Up and Away
by holeyearmuffins
Summary: I go for the quiet, nerdy type. Not for the arrogant, pompous sport jocks who think they're the king of the world. Especially if they're dating my cousin. Please, I'm way classier than that.
1. Home, sweet home

**Disclaimer:** I do not own these characters but I did tweak them a bit since they are in high school now. In other words, the characters are a bit OOC.

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><p><em>One Year Ago<em>

Pain- that was all I felt when I woke up. White- that was all I saw when I woke up. Whispering- that was all I heard when I woke up in the hospital bed.

"Kinomoto?"

I tried to answer but only a breathy sound escaped between my dry lips. Lethargically moistening them, I tried again. "Yes?"

A relieved sigh as someone picked up my hand. I tilted my head a bit and saw an exhausted man with glasses.

"How are you feeling, Honey? Are your ankles feeling okay?"

Tears welled up in my eyes as I remembered everything again. My heart wrenched in two as I stuttered out, "what happened to... to..."

My father's eyes looked at me questioningly. "What are you talking about?"

I clenched my eyes shut, also remembering that I lied to my father about how I tore both of my Achilles heels. I feigned tiredness, when really I wanted to scream and cry. But I withheld it, tucking it away in my heart.

No one needed to know.

No one needed to know the real story.

* * *

><p>"Home, sweet home."<p>

I stood in front of a charming sunshine yellow house; a tall woman with light brown hair ran to open the gate for me. She greeted me with an enthusiastic embrace, her swollen belly sandwiched between us as I awkwardly hugged her back.

Wow. She felt really squishy. And her hair smelt nice. I wonder what shampoo she used...

"Easy with the hug, there." My older brother, Touya, chuckled. He ducked his upper half into the trunk of the car, effortlessly tugging my luggage out. After, he straightened his well-built body up and strolled into the house, pecking his pregnant wife on the cheek sweetly.

I made a rude gagging noise at their fluffy moment like the mature 17-year-old I was.

"Right, I'm sorry. I just got so excited to meet you, Sakura. You don't mind if I call you Sakura, right? I mean it would be a little weird to call you Kinomoto, since that is my last name, too. And-"

I interrupted her politely, amused by her babbling. "By all means, call me Sakura. We're going to be living together, after all. But just warning you, I'm not going to take care of my brother. I had enough of that menace when he moved out last year."

Kaho laughed boisterously at my jibe, toppling onto her knees with tears in her eyes. I stood in the wrought iron gates, an entertained look on my face at the hysterical woman. She laughed like a mad woman on drugs.

Touya poked his head out, dark eyes gazing at me questioningly when he saw his spouse on the pavement.

I gave him a thumbs up. "She's a nutcase. I like her."

A couple of wheezes, then, "pfft... menace... nutcase..." And she fell victim to another bout of insane laughter.

I looked up at my brother with a grin. The dark-haired male sighed before beckoning me inside. "Hormones. I swear, before she was the calm one in the relationship, and now look at her." We did, and noticed some of the people who passed by gave the teary hormonal lady frightened looks- and Touya heaved another sigh. "Anyway, make yourself at home, Sakura. Your boxes and stuff already arrived yesterday and are inside your room. Past the kitchen, up the stairs, at the far end of the hall."

With one last look at Kaho, I headed in, readjusting the backpack strap on my shoulder. I didn't feel the least bit tired from my flight from Kyoto which was good, because when I opened my bedroom door, I nearly groaned at the sheer amount of things I needed to unpack. I rolled up the sleeves of my oversized hoodie and knelt by the first box. Luckily it only contained clothes, as did the next box. The third contained my beloved books and CD's, and the last held sentimental mementos.

Deciding to hold off on the last box for later, I flopped down onto my mini rug and finally had a moment to fully scrutinize the room.

The walls were painted rose pink, which matched the full-sized bed in the corner. A mahogany desk sat on the wall opposite to the bed, and next to it was a window that faced the front of the house. I peered outside, and was pleasantly surprised to see that the branches of the cherry blossom tree next door reached my window.

Excellent. I had a way to get into the house in case I forgot my keys... which always happened to me.

I checked the time and saw that it was only one in the afternoon. Walking out, I took the time to explore the house; there was a small bathroom next to my bedroom and a door leading out to the balcony across from my room. I traveled down stairs, which led me to the bright, airy kitchen, where I spotted Kaho and Touya eating lunch. I sniffed the air, delighted to smell the savory aroma of meat and potatoes.

The caveman in me started stomping around, growling loudly for its meal.

As I bounded over to the island that was situated in the middle of the pristine kitchen, Kaho dished out a bowl for me with a kind smile, which made my heart twisted uncomfortably as I thought about how impure I was. About what happened to me before. I didn't deserve her kindness, I thought miserably. Suddenly, my appetite was gone. Nevertheless, I snatched up my pair of chopsticks.

"Thank you so much for the meal. I shall eat this voraciously." I announced, gobbling down the food with practiced happiness. I was happy to discover that Kaho was an excellent cook, despite my lack of hunger; a compliment I did not fail to tell her.

Kaho beamed.

"Slow down, Monster. Jeez, I forgot how much of a pig you were." Touya commented gruffly, mussing up my shoulder-length hair.

I scowled at him, but inside I was glad that he had moved out by the time _it_ had happened. If only he saw how I looked after everything, he wouldn't have said that.

Wistful sadness formed in my throat as I watched the couple smile at each other with bliss. I stood up abruptly. "Well, I'm going to go look around the neighborhood. Might as well map out my route to school since it starts tomorrow."

"Which reminds me..." Touya grabbed something from his pocket and tossed me the object.

Catching it deftly, I saw that it was a key.

"Have a safe trip. Be back by five." Kaho waved cheerfully.

I waved back half-heartedly. "I'm off to bring home the bacon!"

Walking out of the house, I made my way down the street and took a right. Recalling where the school was located, I strolled past the row of budding cherry blossom trees, past the park with the large penguin slide- which I was very tempted to slide down on- past the bustling plaza, and arrived at Tomoeda High School at last. The gates were wide open, much to my surprise, so I walked in.

Holy grail. This place is like a freaking maze.

The school, which comprised of five large buildings, a soccer field, and a forest out back, was huge compared to the one I attended back in Kyoto. I meandered around for a long time, noting that the buildings were labeled A to F. After locating building F, I came across the expansive soccer field and was taken aback to see someone practicing and a couple of girls watching. My stomach curdled with dread as I sensed the flashbacks rising up from the inner recesses of my mind. I pushed them away as I prepared to take off but stopped.

"Cute butt you have there, Sweet cheeks!" One of the girls whistled.

A low baritone voice answer dryly, "thanks. Everyone tells me that."

His answer piqued my interest, upset stomach forgotten. A girl was throwing herself at him and that's how he responds?

"Hows about getting your fine body over here?"

"My body is fine over here."

"Can I have you number?"

"It's on the back of my jersey. Can you not read?"

"God, you're hot."

"Well I have been working out for the last two hours. I believe it's only normal for my body temperature to rise."

I stifled a chuckle at the male's wittiness. Nicely played, young grasshopper. Nicely played. I settled down on the cement, drawing my knees up to my chin and continued to watch their interaction.

"Are you in college?"

"No."

"Would you like to visit one? We can show you around and let you see what college life is like." The female batted her eyelashes flirtatiously.

The soccer player rubbed his face in frustrations, then looked around impatiently for an escape plan. His eyes landed on me, and from a distance they looked to be golden brown. Unleashing the full force of his desperation, I could practically hear him pleading, "please help me."

And of course, being the wonderful, compassionate, empathetic girl my dad raised me to be, I decided to come to his aid.

I dusted off my denim jeans before striding around the fence that block the field from the school, devising an excuse that would drive the pesky women away. I thought fast, opening first with an apologetic, "sorry I'm late... uh..." The women whipped their heads around so fast that I squeaked.

Okay, that was embarrassing. Oh goodness, I need to think of a name now. C'mon, you spend countless hours on the internet looking up baby names and this is what you have to show for it? Yeah, way to go, Kinomoto. Crap, I'm taking too long!

"Eriol." I fibbed, tucking a strand of honey brown hair behind my ear.

His eyebrow quirked upwards at the made up name. Sucks, but it was the first thing that came to mind, buddy. Deal with it.

Approaching the emotionless boy and giggly twenty-something-year-olds, I continued with the lies. "I was busy working on my calculus homework but got sidetracked by some math riddles I found online. They're as hilarious as that vertical asymptote joke you told me the other day-"

The women looked between us with disgust, their puny brains coming to the conclusion that we were both nerds, and therefore a waste of their time. With varying degrees of scandalized faces, they departed.

Man I was good.

A chuckle came from my left before I realized that it was just the two of us. Alone. My breathing sped up along with my heart rate while my palms dampened with sweat. I licked my parched lips.

"Vertical-"

His voice snapped me out of my trance. I took off at mach speed, adrenaline pumping through my veins. I was grateful for the relentless time I spent during rehab, because my ankles didn't give out or feel too strained from my sprinting. Faintly, I heard the boy call out to me but I ignored him.

Arriving home in five minutes, rather than twenty, I panted exhaustedly. Sweat forced my hair and clothes to cling to my body. My limbs felt like jelly. My ankles were beginning to sting a little, but nevertheless I squared my shoulders and walked into the house like nothing was wrong.

"Welcome home, Sakura!" Kaho exclaimed. She was taken aback by my disheveled appearance, then threw her head back and sniggered. "Like brother, like sister. I swear, you two are like running addicts!"

Collecting my breath, I told her wryly, "you know us. We love our runner's high. Speaking of, where's Touya?"

"Upstairs working on his archeological doodad whatsits."

A snort leaked out. Doodad whatsits... Soccer boy's brain was probably confused like a doodad whatsits right now... Before I knew it, I was outright laughing crazily, as the hilarity of my situation from earlier hit me. Kaho laughed along, figuring that I found her invented words funny.

Which I did, by the way. Definitely going to use that phrase often.

"When's dinner going to be ready?" I inquired, clutching the stitch in my side.

"It's already done. We're just waiting for-"

The door swung open and a clear voice called out, "I'm home!"

I turned my head and saw a gorgeous girl with jet black hair and scarlet red eyes staring right at me.

"Perfect timing! I was just talking about you to Sakura. Sakura, this is Meiling, my niece. Meiling, this is Sakura, my sister-in-law. The both of you will be living together, isn't that exciting? Oh but I guess that makes you two... Well, roommates sounds too impersonal, so..." Kaho frowned, struggling to find the word that defined our relationship.

"Cousins?" I supplied helpfully.

She nodded, satisfied. "Yes, we'll go with cousins." Hurriedly she said to the exotic girl, "well don't just stand there or else the bugs will come in. Hurry up, chop, chop!"

I grinned at the women's vocabulary. Yup, the hormones have definitely flipped her personality upside down.

Meiling stepped into the threshold, and a tall, lean figure hesitantly stood behind her in the dark.

"Why I did not see you there, Syaoran. You can come in, too, you know. The more the merrier!"

Upon her command, he entered the house also, and my breath died in my throat as I realized who it was.

It was the boy from the soccer field.

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><p><strong>AN:** What do you think?

Edit: Thank you so much to melodygarden for pointing out my mistakes.


	2. Scoreboard

It really is a small world.

I gaped at the six foot tall male, wondering what the chances of him showing up at my house were. Belatedly, I realized how rude I was being. "Oh, I'm so sorry," I turned to my 'cousin' with a grin, "it's very nice to meet you, Meiling."

She had a blank look on, stepping over the threshold and invading my personal bubble. I refrained from telling her to, 'get out of my grill, lady,' with much difficulty and endured her inspection with a forced smile.

"Your eyes are like glassy marbles! Oh, and your hair is so beautifully dark and shiny..." Meiling sighed dreamily as she rubbed a couple of strands between her fingers.

Oookay... definitely not what I was expecting...

"What color did you dye it? Dark auburn?"

I inched away from the crazy lady cautiously, like how a zoo keeper backed away from a hungry lion. "It's my natural hair color... and I think it's pretty plain..."

Her deep red eyes roved over my body next, making me extremely uncomfortable. "You do sports don't you? You're body is absolutely to _die_ for!"

"I used to do a couple of sports. And I don't really understand why you're complimenting me. You're obviously quite aesthetically pleasing to the eye."

Meiling ignored my comment, but Soccer Boy behind her heard because he chuckled under his breath. "You're hot. Don't you think so, Syaoran?"

The male entered the house, closing the door in the process, and revealed himself fully. He quirked an eyebrow at the sight of me, probably remembering how psychotic I acted from before. "She is quite 'aesthetically pleasing to the eye.'"

Up close, I could finally see what he looked like and understood why the college students were fussing over him. Li had unruly dark chocolate hair, which fell over his intense amber eyes handsomely. His tanned complexion and athletic build were definite indicators that he played soccer regularly, while his strong jaw underlined his high cheekbones.

He was, to put it bluntly, unfairly attractive.

I gave the two of them strange looks. "Right..." I swiftly held up three fingers in front of them. "Quick, how many fingers am I holding up?"

"Three."

"Three."

I furrowed my eyebrows bewilderedly. "Odd... so you guys don't need glasses..."

Kaho clapped her hands, feeling left out from our interaction. "Well enough of the pleasantries now! Dinner is all ready. Just have a seat while I set the table." The four of us, as a unit, moved towards the warm kitchen before Kaho added, "Meiling, could you kindly get Touya for me?"

"Sure," the ruby-eyed female chirped, hopping up the stairs two at a time.

"May I help with anything?" I asked, hovering uncertainly between sitting and standing. I probably looked like I was taking a dump, which would explain why Li was looking at me weirdly.

Eh, I could care less what he thought of me.

"You could get five pairs of chopsticks and bowls. We're going to have hot pot tonight."

I fist pumped the air and did my victory jig. "Yes! Hot pot!" Then I looked around confusedly. "Er... Where are the-"

A muscular hand reached out and pulled out one of the numerous drawers, revealing the wooden sticks. "I'll get the bowls." His low voice stated.

I saw him glance down at the drawer curiously. I could practically hear him thinking, "where are the forks?" as the blank space next to the chopsticks stared up at him.

"Touya probably got rid of the forks."

He looked at me as if to say, 'why?'

"Because," I whispered conspiratorially to him, maintaining the three foot distance between us. "They're evil and they're secretly out to get us."

"..."

I thanked him shortly after that for showing me where the chopsticks were with an upward tug of my lips. My mind was consumed with thoughts of hot pot. God, I loved the stuff. Especially when it was slathered in Touya's special sauce... Mmm...

"You're drooling." Li commented, placing the bowls around the island.

"Any sane person would. I mean- c'mon it's- gah." I retorted intellectually. "It's _hot pot._"

Good one, Kinomoto. That'll teach him.

He rolled his golden brown eyes at my articulate words as Kaho set down the plates of raw meat, cabbage, udon noodles, and other goodies. Right after this, Meiling and Touya came down.

The timing in this household was uncanny. This place was almost like a musical. I resisted the temptation to check their pockets for scripts and cue cards.

"Oh, the brat is here." Touya remarked disdainfully.

I looked up with a playful glower on my face, caught off guard to see my older brother glaring at Li instead of me.

Well this was a pleasant surprise.

"Where? I don't see any besides you." Soccer Boy taunted with a smirk.

Oh testosterone piss fights. How I've missed you.

"I was referring to you, smart ass. What are you doing here?"

"Why thank you, Touya. I do love being called smart."

Touya growled threateningly in the back of his throat. I nearly cracked up from their hilarious conversation; Meiling thought otherwise.

With a pacifying expression, she said mildly, "I invited him because Kaho said we're having a late birthday dinner for Sakura. I wanted to introduce him before school starts so that Sakura has at least one more person she knows."

Touched by both women's thoughtfulness, I vowed to let them have all the meat pieces they wanted. Which was quite significant, considering how much I loved meat. Imagine a drug addict giving up her supply to another person- yeah, it was that earth shattering.

Kaho started blubbering, meanwhile. Tears streaked down her cheeks as she clumsily patted both of our shoulders. "Words can't even describe how happy I am right now."

"Food can, though." Touya piped up grumpily, the broth in the stove already boiling.

His wife gasped, setting to work immediately and dumping in the plethora of foods.

"Happy belated 17th birthday and welcome home, Sakura!" Touya, Kaho, and Meiling chanted in sync.

A smile bubbled up. "Thank you so much, guys!"

Kaho looked apologetic the next second. I swear, her emotions swung faster than a kid on a swing. "I didn't know what kind of cake you wanted, but I can get you one tomorrow if you like."

I shook my head vehemently. "No, I don't want to be any more of a burden. There's no need to go out of your way to buy a cake... Plus my birthday was on April 1. Hot pot is more than enough for me." I rubbed my hands together and licked my lips with anticipation. "Soon my pretties; soon you'll be mine."

Everyone at the table pretended not to hear my creepy comment. Touya, I could understand because he had to put up with my bizarreness since infancy, but seeing Kaho, Meiling, and Li do it too was quite impressive.

Kaho, for some reason, had a saddened look on her face. "Alright, dear."

The food was then scooped out and lavished upon us, pretty soon filling our stomachs satisfactorily one empty hot pot later. Have I mentioned how much I loved hot pot? No? Well I _really_ loved it. If hot pot was a human, I'd totally marry him- assuming that hot pot would be a male, of course.

Throughout dinner, the conversation usually bounced between Kaho and Meiling- who I've deducted to be the only talkative ones in the family- while I stuffed my face, and Touya and Li continued their metaphorical testosterone battle. Along with my deduction about Meiling, I came to the conclusion that Li was probably the type to not initiate conversations, and was probably the kind of person who could become incredibly intimidating if he wanted to.

The night came to a close at eight o'clock when Li decided to leave the house, bidding us all a good night and Touya a snarky comment. I traveled up to my room lethargically, Meiling entering the room two doors over from mine. I rifled through my closet in preparation for my nice long shower.

A buzzing noise from my desk caught my attention as I let out a curse. I darted over to my cell phone, answering it guiltily, predicting who the caller would be.

"Hello?"

"Kinomoto Sakura." My father mock-scolded me. Yup, just as I thought. I could just imagine him standing in my former home with his usual smile.

I bowed my head in shame. "Sorry, Dad. I totally forgot about calling you."

Static rushed through the receiver in what I assumed to be a chuckle. Warmth filled my chest at the noise.

"So? How's Tomoeda?"

A flashback to the scene in the soccer field prompted me to confide in my father about the mortifying moment. After I recounted the details, he laughed for a solid minute while I smiled nostalgically.

"And- you wouldn't believe it- but he came over for dinner."

There was a bewildered pause at the other end. "You invited him for dinner?"

"No, no, no." I guffawed at the ridiculous idea. "Meiling invited him."

A noise of comprehension, then, "so this Li Syaoran and Meiling are together?"

It was now my turn to pause. I then hooted and slapped my knee. "Good one! But Dad, she's way too nice for a guy like him. They're probably just friends."

He hummed. "You can think whatever you want, Honey. Anyway, Dad's gotta go. Don't forget to take your medicine."

I nodded into the phone. "Love you."

"Love you, too." And the phone line went dead.

The hole in my heart- something I didn't notice before- reopened upon the end of our conversation. I frowned slightly, realizing that I was experiencing my first round of homesickness, but then shook my head. No need to get even more into the dumps, I chided to myself. Locating my parcel of Japanese herbal medicine, I took out a small packet, held my breath, and swallowed the bitter powder in one gulp. I winced at the bitter taste which invaded my taste buds.

God that stuff tastes nasty. I mean, I know it's full of antioxidants and whatnot, but they could've at least put in some sugar.

Someone opened my door without preamble, resulting in me somehow slapping my chest with a _thwak_. It was only Touya with a towel and loofah on hand.

"You can take a shower now." He said, ignoring my usual antics. "I believe school starts at 7 tomorrow for you, since you have to attend the first years' orientation." Touya let out a bark of mean laughter. "You'll be the only second year, yet you'll probably blend right in, midget!"

I marched right over to him and elbowed the douche bag in the ribs. He yelped in pain while I harrumphed and took off for the bathroom.

"You'll pay for that, Monster!" And then a groan.

I smiled victoriously. Sakura: one, Touya: zilch.

* * *

><p>Distantly, in the outskirts of my mind, I was aware that my alarm clock was going off. I rolled out of my bed half-asleep, searching fruitlessly for the shrill harbinger of evil.<p>

"Where the hell is my alarm?"

I rubbed my eyes, awake at last, and was humiliated at the fact that I forgot I set my cellphone as my alarm, and not an actual clock. Slightly disoriented by my unfamiliar surroundings, I sat down on the edge of my breath.

Inhale. Exhale.

Okay, Kinomoto. New town plus new school equals fresh start. I must stick with the crowd, which means no more popularity-monkey-business or showing off at school. I will stay true to myself, I vowed. I tucked a strand of dark hair behind my ear anxiously. What if people didn't like the real me? I mean... I was really weird, clumsy- even though I tried hard not to show it- and... well my weirdness is what usually drove people away from me. I shrugged to no one in particular, commenting out loud, "but honestly, who's _not_ weird in this world?"

Nodding to myself reassuringly, I swiftly ran through my morning routine. I dusted on some light makeup and slapped on my new uniform, which comprised of a green plaid skirt and a plain white blouse, before hurrying downstairs.

I checked my pink watch, which told me that I had exactly twenty minutes left to get to school. Kaho handed me a bundled lunch and stuffed a piece of toast into my cavernous mouth.

"My lunch might not be as great as your father's but I hope you enjoy it." She shouted after me as I fast walked out of there.

"Don't worry, your cooking is phenomenal." I complimented, turning around the bend. I breathed in the fresh spring air, attempting to smooth down the nerves that usually accompanied the first day of school, and was delighted to see that the cherry blossom trees were halfway to full bloom. They stood regally in the middle of the path, dividing the street in two, all the way to the park. I checked my watch at that moment, feeling regretful to see that I couldn't swing by for a quick ride.

After school today, I will absolutely slide down the penguin thing. Even if it means blowing off any new friends I may make today.

Once the school's gigantic clock tower was in sight, I made a mad dash for building A- the auditorium. I slipped in sneakily, which was unnecessary since the din inside was deafening. The new students were chatting to one another loudly, the older students at the sides of the stage all looked bored, and the teachers on the stage appeared to be annoyed.

Yup, this was like any other high school. Remember, Kinomoto: no sticking out and be yourself.

I took another lungful of air and took the seat closest to me. A couple of girls sat a foot away with their phones out; a pimply boy eyed the group not so far away from them; and farther down the row sat the sports jocks. You could tell that they were the athletes because they all slouched in their seats and looked at everyone with superior airs.

Careful not to establish any eye contact with the jocks, I stared straight ahead at the stage. I pawed at my fringe, fretting with it for no reason until there was a loud hack from the stage. The commotion stopped, as we all took in a short, bald man.

"Ahem."

A couple of snickers could be heard around the auditorium, but the man took no heed.

"Welcome, students of Tomoeda High! I am your princi-PAL-" he stressed the last three letters, "mister Matsubara. It is a pleasure to meet all of you. And as I look down upon all of your shining, expectant faces..."

I tuned him out by then, absentmindedly playing with the hem of my skirt. Hm. Did I roll my skirt up too much?

I glanced at the girls near me and saw that their skirts ended mid-thigh whereas I had mine above the knee.

Yeah, definitely not. Wow, their skirts are ridiculously short... I wondered if that was what city girls went with. Since I attended school in Kyoto, a relatively rural region, the uniform rules were succinct: if your fingertips didn't brush the bottom of your skirt, then the school sent you home without another thought. My eyes then traveled upwards to their faces, taking in the heavy mascara, the heavy ringlets, and dyed hair. They reminded me of the models I saw on the cover of magazines, and I felt distinctly out of place with my nonexistent makeup and slightly wavy hair.

Out of the blue, everyone stood up and mobbed over to the exits. I followed them like a lost lamb to the bulletin boards, and caught the gist of what they were doing. Trying my best to slink past the crowd without tripping, I miraculously ended up in the front. I scanned the list of names, feeling slightly ridiculous when I spotted my name because it was right in front of my face, and headed straight for room C-105.

With fifteen minutes to go, the upperclassmen began to show up. I could easily tell the third years from the second years, because the third years moved with confidence around them and a slight tinge of boredom. I easily located building C and roamed the corridor in pursuit for my homeroom- after swapping my outdoor shoes for my indoor ones.

I hopped up and down to ease the tension I felt in the pit of my stomach. Reaching out a slightly damp hand, I slid the door open and stepped in to find that most of the class had already arrived. My peers turned towards me simultaneously, then they all began to mutter to one another as I chose to hide in the back corner seat by the window. My cheeks heated up as I felt numerous gazes land on me.

Jesus, this was more nerve wracking than I thought. Quick, say something cool or crack a math joke.

Luckily, the door slid open, and a young, stately man walked in. I released the breath I didn't know I was holding.

Darn, and I had a good one too.

"Get to your seats, class." The bell rung right when the teacher said it, which left everyone scrambling for a desk. When everyone was seated, he continued. "Excellent. My name is Terada Yoshiyuki- Terada to you, Yamazaki." The male said good naturally, looking at someone in front of him.

I craned my neck and assumed that he was referring to the squinty-eyed kid.

"I'll be your homeroom and Japanese teacher for the rest of the year. It's a pleasure to meet you all."

The class parroted the phrase back, but I didn't because I was feeling rebellious.

Yeah, living life on the edge.

"So, seeing how everyone is perfectly seated, let's just stick with it. I'll pass around a seating chart for everyone to write their names down on." Mr. Terada said, passing the piece of paper to the student on the other side of the room. "Now, let's start with turning in our summer homework!"

Oh. That was due?

* * *

><p>IHML. Or I hate my life. I don't care which one you prefer, but I really did hate my life.<p>

It was currently lunch time, and I've only gone through Japanese, English, and History so far. I had the worst schedule ever, in case you didn't notice. Shoot me now. Or better yet, can someone please tell me where the bathroom is?

I meandered down another hallway, lost in the maze that they called a school. I swear, if this place got any more complex you might as well hire your own search team.

Making another right turn, because obviously if you make enough right turns you'll end up where you were originally right, I spied the bathroom sign. With an enthusiastic whoop, I went in and did my business. Of course I'll spare you the details, but what I won't spare you is the conversation that was held outside my stall.

"Hey, did you see the new girl?"

"Which one? There were like, a ton."

"No, the new second year. This school is, like, supposed to be the best public school in the area. And she, like, looks like a ditz. How do you think she got in?"

I mentally snorted. Yeah, and, like, you weren't a ditz too?

"Oh. Yeah, what about her? I'd kill to have her eyes. Do you think they're colored contacts?"

There was a 'tsk' noise. "Haven't you, like, been paying attention to what people are saying about her?"

My ears pricked up at this. People were talking about me already? This can't be good.

"Like, they're saying that she's, 'totally gorgeous,' and that she has a killer smile or whatever."

I nearly laughed out loud incredulously. Everyone here was insane. I mean, I knew I wasn't ugly, but I wasn't 'gorgeous' or 'hot' either. Maybe they were mixing me up with Meiling or Anne Hathaway. And when they hell have they seen me smile?

The two students walked away right before my poor tummy uttered a great growl. I warily peeked out and saw no one there. Washing my hands with a contemplative face, I somehow managed to retrace my steps and arrived at my classroom without much difficulty. I ignored my classmates' stares as I plopped down in my lonely corner and ate my lunch by my lonesome self.

Honestly, kids these days. You know, if I saw a girl sitting by herself, I would've befriended her right away. Obviously I would go easy on the weird. Wouldn't want to scare off another one...

The bell signaled the end of lunch as I chomped down the last bite of the lovely tonkatsu Kaho made. I packed up my stuff, preparing to migrate over to my advanced calculus and chemistry class with the Yamazaki character. He kindly waited for me out in the hall and directed us to the second floor where the third years were.

"Hi, I'm Yamazaki." He offered his hand out, which I shook awkwardly.

"Kinomoto Sakura." I replied hesitantly. I couldn't tell which part of the social hierarchy he belong to and had to settle with the conclusion that he belonged to neither the jocks nor the nerds. Class clown, perhaps?

"I know." Yamazaki said simply. The boy looked quite average with his dark hair and olive complexion, but it was the miniscule eyes that made him special.

"Do you like math?" I inquired, suddenly wanting to befriend him.

He shrugged his shoulders exaggeratedly. "It's alright. Depends on who's in my class. By the way-" He halted in the middle of the stairwell. "Did you know that there's a ghost that haunts the room?"

I tried to act as calmly as possible but inside I froze like a popsicle. "There are no such things as ghosts."

Yamazaki just gave me a knowing look, but continued his ascent. "You may not believe in them, but they exist. As long as there's someone who believes in something, it will continue to exist." He said wisely.

I quirked an eyebrow at him. "So what if I believed that everyone on Earth didn't believe in ghosts?"

He tapped his chin meditatively. I noticed his callused finger pads for the first time.

So he did play a sport. Oh well, he was friendly enough so far.

"You know what, Sakura?"

Normally I would've squawked with protest at his rude familiarity. Strangely enough, though, I felt comfortable in Yamazaki's presence. "Yes, dear grasshopper?"

The boy gave me an awed look. "I think we're going to be great friends."

I clapped my hands with joy and bopped up and down. "Really?"

He solemnly nodded. "I swear to the guy upstairs."

"You mean to God?"

"We'll get into that topic later. We've arrived, my intellectually-stimulating comrade." And with a flourish, he slid the door open.

"Look who's decided to join us." A woman with a slightly hooked nose and long, light brown hair announced dryly.

I mumbled my apology while Yamazaki said, "yo, M-dawg. How's it hangin'?"

"Get to your seat right now, Slanted Eyes, before I throw a pen at you again. And you, New Girl."

Once again, all eyes were on me. I huffed with annoyance. Why did everyone insist on staring at me like I was an animal?

"You sit over there." The teacher said dismissively, waving her hand in a vague direction.

As quick as an old woman spotting a sale, I slid into my seat. I turned to my neighbor, emboldened by my success at making a new friend, but my eyes bugged out of its sockets.

Li.

I had mixed feelings about my seat- on the one hand, I was happy to be placed next to someone I knew, but on the other I was discomforted to be with a soccer player. It was obvious that he knew the school was his domain by the way he had an arm casually slung over the back of his chair, and by the way he clearly disregarded the dress code. His uniform was a mess. The shirt was untucked, the top button was undone, his tie was loose, and Li's hair was in disarray.

I shook my head. I needed to stop with the stereotyping. I should give this guy a change, he could be way different from the rest of that crowd. I mean, he hadn't tried anything on me so far.

"Alright, so as I was saying, my name is Matsutaki. Yes, like the mushroom, laugh all you want." The class did, but it was obvious that everyone respected and liked this teacher a lot. "I would like to welcome you to the advanced calculus and chemistry class, but really I would like to be home right now with my television. And honestly, they should just call this class the nerdy class. I mean, look around you-"

Everyone did, and I was thrilled to see how many guys were wearing glasses around me. I especially had my eye on the blue-haired boy three seats in front of me.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I do believe we found our hot pot manifestation.

"-yeah, pretty much everyone looks like a nerd. Besides New Girl and Man Whore back there. " She pointed at us.

Ugh, here we go again. Mortification colored my face as I shoved hair behind my ears.

"And on with the lesson. Today we'll be learning about..."

I sat up straighter in my seat. Calculus and chemistry were my favorite subjects of all time. I don't know how I managed to hate them back in elementary and junior high, but they were so much fun! All those molecular bonds, Avogadro's number and Hess's law, derivatives, and limits. Man, did they get my blood pumping better than a rated R movie.

About halfway through the class, I felt something touch the back of my neck lightly. I slapped my hand there, thinking it was a bug, but felt nothing.

Odd.

Another touch, and I slapped again.

Nothing.

I fully turned around, absolutely confuzzled as to what it was, and saw Li looking at the board innocently. A little too innocently.

"Ugh." I muttered, turning back around and resuming with my notes.

He left me alone for another half hour, before returning to his ministrations.

"Quit it!" I whisper-shouted at the pest.

Li was definitely doing nothing to make me think better of him. He chuckled as I fumed silently, before throwing a balled up piece of paper onto my desk.

What were we? Elementary school kids?

I ignored the note, raising my hand to ask a question.

"Yes, New Girl?"

"Shouldn't it be endothermic since the water surrounding the system is getting colder? Yet, the answer says its exothermic, which I don't really understand."

Ms. Matsutaki looked down at her answer key in surprise. "Well, whaddya know? New Girl also has a brain. Yes, did you see how she got to that conclusion class? What she did was..."

Another tap on my shoulder.

"What?" I hissed, glaring daggers at him.

"What class do you have next?"

I gave him a suspicious look. "Why do you want to know?"

He shrugged nonchalantly. "Why are you always asking questions?"

"Why do guys here shrug all the time?"

"Because it's the cool thing to do. You know you want to join the crowd." Li said sarcastically.

I bared my fangs- I mean, teeth at him. "Hah. I win, you said a sentence first."

The bell chose to ring at the moment, and I couldn't have picked a better time for it to go off.

"Chowda, Loser." I saluted to him before taking off.

Sakura: 3. Li: zip. Yamazaki: nil. Touya: zilch. I just seemed to be on a roll today.

Navigating around the campus itself was no problem, I soon realized as I arrived at the girl's locker room without a hitch. I was among the first few to get there, so I took my time changing. When it looked like all the girls had arrived, I made for the gym but a barrier of females blocked my way.

"We heard through the grapevine that you were being friendly with Syaoran just now."

I was unperturbed by their confrontation. I had enough of these back home. The best solution: catch them off guard with an unexpected reply.

"You know, I've always wonder why it's a grapevine. Why not a cherry blossom tree or pumpkin patch?"

The speaker, a pretty blonde, kinked her eyebrows together at my unexpected answer. "Excuse me?"

"Oh, was I not clear with my question the first time? I meant-"

"Are you sure we even need to deal with this girl?" One of her lackeys asked, inspecting her nails.

Doubt ran through the whole group, so I grinned insanely in the hopes that they would shove off. How I loved playing the insane card. And I was quite good at it, too.

"Listen," Blondie took on an intimidating stance; hair flung back, shoulders squared, and arms crossed. "We just need you to back off of Syaoran, alright? If you do as we say, there'll be no trouble between us. Am I clear?"

I slithered out of the threat by asking, "did you know that the scent of cologne on a woman is more appealing to men than perfume?"

A whole clamor of voices came up from the girls as they all turned to one another and mulled over the question. I made my getaway then, dashing to the safe confines of the gym.

What is this, stereotypical-high-school-girl-day? What happened to chicks over dicks and all that jazz? I just hated confrontations like those. And arguments. Damn, did I hate those. Lucky for me, this group proved to be extremely easy to distract.

A fellow classmate of mine jogged over to me with a familiar timid smile. A memory flew up in my mind as I tried to place where I'd seen her before.

"Hey, you're Kinomoto, right?"

I nodded, sitting down on the floor and stretching out my calves.

"I just saw you running... were you perhaps one of the participants in the track and field finals?"

My breath hitched as I recalled the day the track team made it to the finals. I could still remember the shrill yells of victory and the sense of elation that came with the win.

"Now I remember you. Yanagisawa Naoko, yeah? We competed against each other in the mixed relay race."

She appeared to be delighted at my recollection. "Wow, you still remember someone like me?"

I was confused by her statement. "'Someone like me'? Like.. there's more than one you? Do you have a doppelganger?"

Yanagisawa giggled at my ludicrous questions. She looked very cute when she smiled, I spied a little dimple forming on her right cheek. I found myself really wanting to pinch her squishy cheek, but refrained from doing so.

Sure, it was too late for me to stick out, but it wasn't too late to reign in the weirdness.

"Would you mind pairing up with me for stretches?" She asked just as bashfully.

I nodded eagerly. "Yes, please. I just love gym. Do you love gym?"

"Just the running part."

I smiled widely, and we got to work with our stretching. During the short warm up time, I learned that Naoko- she gave me permission to use her first name, how sweet is she?- loved reading, track, writing, and... more reading. Now, I wasn't against books, in fact I read often, but she seemed to breath books and (excuse my language) poo books like they were the essence of her being.

Our gym teacher finally showed up and 'forced' us to run for the whole period. While Naoko and I slapped each other high-fives, the rest of the class moaned in despair. We walked out of the gym to the track. My new friend set the pace for us and I kept up easily, despite my one year of rehabilitation, and it felt _good._ After being deprived of the smell of track rubber, the feel of wind in my hair, and the heady pulse of my heart, I was really getting into the swing of things. Unfortunately, the whistle sounded and we had to retreat to the locker room.

As I changed, running high on my runner's high- hah, I'm clever- I was taken aback by Naoko moving her stuff into the empty locker next to me. I beamed at her thankfully.

"Now you just need to join the track team and we'll be besties." She joked.

My smile became strained at her last word. "Yeah besties... cripes! That's the bell. I'll see you tomorrow." And I fast walked away from the waving girl.

I could feel a migraine building up at the back of my head. Tediously making my way back to my homeroom class to collect my belongings, I noticed that I left my pencil bag upstairs in the Nerd Room.

"God damn, I just want to get back home-" I slid the door open and saw Meiling on a desk with Li standing in front of her...

With their lips locked together passionately.

Never before have I wished for a spoon to gouge my eyes out.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** A special thank you to melodygarden, separate with a comma, airhead259, grossgirl18, leatwerpenn (rad penname, by the way), image, and sakurastarzzz. **Edited**.


	3. What the hell?

So you may be thinking to yourself, 'okay, this chick is officially off her rocker.' And I wholeheartedly agree with you. I'm a grown girl. I've walked in on tons of students fooling around and sucking each others' faces off. So why was this any different?

Okay, I take everything back.

What the hell was my cousin thinking?

I recognized my pencil bag sitting innocently on the desk next to the offenders.

Oh boy.

Roughly blowing my bangs out of my face, I knelt down on the ground and slowly crawled over to the desk. Fear pooling in my brain as I thought about the different, ugly scenarios that could happen if they detected me. Taking deep breaths to calm myself down, I started reciting the periodic table.

Hydrogen, helium, lithium, beryllium, boron, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, fluoride-

I rammed my knee into a desk leg. "Holy mother of omelets." Tears sprung in my eyes at the impact.

It's official now. I hate desks.

The resonant sound of two lips being peeled apart made me want to shrivel into a prune. With bruised lips, Meiling had the decency to jump away from Li whereas the boy just looked down at me calmly.

"Sakura!" Meiling squeaked. She erratically smoothed down her ruffled blouse and hair.

Quick, neutralize the situation with your awesome speaking skills!

"Uh... hey guys." I snatched up my bag and backed away with a nervous giggle. "What are y'all doin' here? I was just gettin' my pencil bag 'cause I left it here- which was pretty stupid of me since I never forget things- but you know... now that I have my stuff, I'll be leavin' so..." My hand met the door catch. "Use protection!" And I slithered out of the room.

Really? _Really?_ Use protection? That's what my witty mind came up with?

"Hey."

Oh, for crying out loud.

I whipped around to come nose to nose with Li. Automatically scuttling away from him, I uttered a humiliating "eep!"

He stood there with an irritating smirk smothered on his face. Jerk.

"I mean get-out-of-my-way-you-freak 'eep.' Not you-scared-the-crap-out-of-me 'eep.' You definitely did not scare me. Nuh uh." I clarified haughtily.

"I'm sure." He voiced sarcastically.

"Good. I'm glad we're on the same page then." I walked down the stairs with as much dignity as I could. He followed, much to my consternation, and creepily watched me change shoes.

"You touch your ear a lot." The amber-eyed boy observed. He leaned against the shoe racks with his hands stuffed in his pockets.

I stood up from my sitting position, my feet now clad in converse shoes. "And you're an arrogant poppycock." I retorted.

Would you like some ice with that burn, sir?

I walked out of the doors, dumbfounded to see that he was still following. I threw my hands up in the air exasperatedly. "What do you want from me? Why aren't you bothering Meiling?"

Li did his famous shrug, looking deviously handsome as he did so.

Damn him and his superior genes.

It was then when I saw Mr. Hot Pot disappearing around a corner to my left. I moved towards that direction, immediately entranced by the flash of midnight blue hair. After rounding the corner, I was disappointed to see a squad of girls instead of Mr. Hot Pot.

My eyes glazed over, a tingling sensation erupting in my blood. The girls all wore the same thing- a flouncy, pleated maroon skirt with a matching top that had 'Tomoeda High' scrawled across it. I watched them gossip with one another spiritedly, nostalgia rising up in my head.

Li's voice broke me out of my reverie. "You look scary."

"Doh." I nearly jumped out of my skin, finally realizing that he was standing right next to me. I rolled my eyes. "Thanks. Every girl wants to hear that."

A contemplative glint colored his eyes. "You used to be a cheerleader."

I laughed falsely and scratched my ear. "No, no, no, don't be silly. I would totally freak out from the hardcore stunts they do. Have you seen those tuck basket tosses and double downs? They're as frightening as my brother on a diet." Faking a shudder, I missed the searching look the male gave me. Then, I faced the cheerleaders and was devastated to see Meiling running up to them.

Meiling was on the cheer squad, I thought dully.

"Sorry I'm late guys!" Meiling apologized, taking her spot in the formation.

It suddenly dawned on me that we were currently on the soccer field and that I _really_ needed an aspirin. Now.

"Look, there's your girlfriend! Which is perfect timing because I'm having this killer headache and I need to go home, and- oh! I can't forget about King Penguin..." With one last fleeting look at the squad and Li, I prepared to run away but couldn't.

"Wait." said Li, his hand lashing out and grabbing my arm.

This time I was aware that I was holding my breath. My complexion paled.

"Why are you running away?"

I let out a shrill voice. "I'm not running away. I just need to get home right now, and as I said before, I want to go on King Penguin-" Panic was beginning to set in and it was affecting my tongue. I could practically imagine my marbled green eyes dilating with anxiety.

"You're mumbling. Stop it." He commanded.

"Syaoran!"

My blood ran ice cold at the sound of Meiling's voice. I closed my eyes briefly, willing my body to turn invisible. Li released my body part automatically.

"I thought you went home already, baby." She cooed.

Please don't pay attention to me, please don't pay attention to me, please...

"Hi there! You must be the new girl. Kinomoto Sakura, right?"

My head snapped up in surprise. Come again?

"My name is Mizuki Meiling. Are you here to sign up for the tryouts?" She cocked her head to the side innocently, giving me a friendly smile.

I was still astonished. My ability to form words fled my mind once again as I wondered why Meiling was treating me like a stranger.

Li stepped in smoothly. "Yeah, she'd love to come for the tryouts. When is it?"

Now I was looking at Li with a slightly open mouth. My anxiety was forgotten, which I guess was a good thing, but the same question kept swirling around in my head.

What the hell was happening?

"Perfect! It's going to be at 4 after school. We're also holding the cheerleading captain tryouts after so you should stick around for those!"

A girl with braided pigtails stepped forward with an award-winning smile. "But we all know who's going to be captain, right girls?"

Everyone nodded, but I couldn't help but notice that a lot of them were faking it. Cheerleaders will always be the same. Even here in Tomoeda.

Meiling rolled her eyes, modestly saying, "you never know. Someone might show up and blow me out of the water."

The brown haired girl snorted. "The chances of that happening are pretty slim."

And at long last, I managed to find my voice again. "I'm just going to go. See you late- tomorrow... Mizuki." I darted away.

This time I was successful.

By the time I reached the park, my thoughts were no less convoluted and Meiling's intentions were no less mind boggling to me. Why did she pretend to not know me? I claimed refuge at the top of the gigantic penguin slide, idly watching the little children scamper around fearlessly.

Was Meiling ashamed of me? Did she suffer from Alzheimer's or does she have a concussion? Maybe she was angry at me for walking in on her and Li... but it wasn't my fault. Honest, they should've found a deserted room- actually, now that I think about it, the room was as deserted as a dark alleyway...

But I digress.

I slid down the slide, enjoying my temporary moment of happiness, before getting serious again. After one more round, I parted with the park and marched home. Three hours later, and I was still waiting for a certain crimson-eyed female in the living room. I was currently lounging on the couch with the television tuned in to a comedy show, digesting my scrumptious dinner. With all my homework finished and nothing to do, time slipped by sluggishly. I sighed for the umpteenth time, rising up from my place and drifting towards the kitchen.

Kaho sat at the island, her belly becoming bigger by the day. She was in the middle of peeling a grapefruit when I plopped down in the stool across from her.

"Done with homework?" She asked, her kind eyes twinkling merrily.

You know how people say pregnancy gave women a warm glow? At that moment I couldn't agree more.

"All finished. Calc and chem were a piece of grapefruit." I wanted to say more. I wanted to ask more. I just couldn't find the words to express my worries, though.

She fetched two plates, dividing the grapefruit neatly in half. "Touya's been on my case lately, saying that I haven't been eating enough fruits. It gets a bit bothersome sometimes." Kaho expressed serenely; it was a glimpse into the woman who Touya fell in love with. "And because I don't want to hurt him, I don't know how to talk to Touya about this matter without us getting into a fight." She peeled the fruit delicately. "But in the end, the best way to address a matter is to address it directly. Even if it does lead to a fight or to hurt feelings, at least your relationship with that person is free of any strain, no?"

I looked at Kaho in wonder. "How did you know what I was thinking?"

She chortled at this, serene Kaho gone. "Because you have the same troubled look your brother gets whenever he's keeping something from me."

The front door clicked open, signaling Meiling's return. Kaho tactfully waddled upstairs with her plate, leaving Meiling and me alone. She came into the kitchen, stopping short when she saw me.

"Listen, I'm sor-"

"What the hell-"

We both looked at each other before I courteously motioned for her to continue.

She took a deep breath, releasing her sleek black hair from the confines of her hair band. "I'm sorry about earlier. It's just-" She struggled with her words and I sympathized, knowing firsthand what that was like. "It's just... I have this weird thing where I obsess over my image. Like a lot. Like it's gotten to the point where I automatically disassociate myself from people who aren't popular. It's a major flaw that I have, and I know it." Meiling admitted.

I noticed that she never mentioned a single word about fixing her problem. I got up from my seat silently.

"Are you still going to try out for the squad?"

I stopped in my tracks, facing away from her. I knew I was supposed to despise her or be angry with her, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. She was being honest with me, and I appreciated it more than she will ever know.

"No, I'm not going to." I kept my voice light and indifferent. I felt my insides drop with dread at the question, though.

I could hear the surprise tingeing her voice. "Why not? I heard from Touya that you used to do it."

My jaw tightened infinitesimally but my voice remained light. "Did he tell you that I was so bad, the captain had to put me in the back?"

No sound was heard from her and I almost turned around to see what she was doing.

"No, he didn't tell me." She acknowledged. "But I think you should still join."

I hummed, not quite giving her a rejection or confirmation.

"It won't hurt to give it a go."

Without another sound, I left.

* * *

><p>Gym had just ended and the butterflies in my stomach hadn't died yet. For some reason I was feeling really anxious, even though I knew from the very beginning that I wouldn't attend the tryouts.<p>

No. Way. In. Hell.

You would have to threaten me at gunpoint to get me to go. Really.

So there I was, chatting to Naoko about our fastest 800 meter dash times in front of the locker rooms, when a dark figure appeared out of thin air.

"Gah!" I panicked, clutching onto an equally frightened Naoko. "Stranger danger!" Then I relaxed, recognizing his memorable amber eyes and composed demeanor. "Oh, it's just the jerk."

He appeared to be amused by my insult. "Jerk?"

I tugged Naoko away. "Let's go somewhere. Didn't you mention that there was a pie shop nearby?"

Li stepped in front of me. I crashed into his _very_ hard chest as a result.

And of course, with my luck, I ended up with a bloody nose.

Naoko gasped, turning a light shade of green at the amount of red liquid. "I'm so sorry, Sakura." She said, covering her nose and mouth. She rushed off after that, leaving me behind with the jerk.

I don't blame her. If I were squeamish of blood, I'd do the same thing.

Pinching the bridge of my nose and tilting my head back, I attempted to mop up my bloody face the best I could. Li snapped out of his stupor by then, ushering me into the nearest bathroom and handing me a wet tissue.

"Tank you." I said in a distinctly nasally voice. I grimaced at the taste of copper in my mouth.

How I wish I was a vampire. Wait, but if I was a vampire then I wouldn't even have blood to begin with. But then again, I wouldn't have to deal with bloody noses ever so I guess...

I could see Li shaking his head in the peripherals of my eyes. "Who gets a bloody nose from bumping into someone?"

"Well, if your chest wasn't so damned hard and you hadn't tried to block me, this wouldn't have happened." I stated severely. I blew hard into several pieces of toilet paper to rid my nose of any more blood.

"So you're saying that I have a fit body." He declared, albeit a bit smugly.

Ugh, boys and their egos.

I rolled my eyes and looked around the bathroom. Spotting the urinals in a corner, I screeched out loud with mortification.

"I'm in the boy's bathroom." I hyperventilated. Suspicious yellow splatters could be seen around the urinals and someone's half-eaten lunch laid abandoned on the ground. A stench befouled the air like gas emissions.

Without delay, Li shoved me out of the bathroom and dragged us outside. He directed my prone body past all the buildings and out to the soccer field. There, a crowd of students were milling around, eyeing the gaggle of nervous girls who sat at the center. I could see Meiling and her troops relaxing at the sidelines, waiting for the clock tower to chime four times.

I promptly dug my heels into the cement, grinding us to a halt. "No."

"Why not?" Li maintained his grip on my arm. His golden brown eyes glittered with curiosity.

"I'm going to hurt myself. And I just had a bloody nose. And I'm not 'popular,' nor do I want to be."

He surveyed me, the bed of tousled hair swaying slightly with the spring breeze. "But you were a cheerleader. And you were popular. Still are, actually."

My breath hitched in my throat. "What makes you say that?"

"Before when you mentioned tuck basket tosses and double downs. Only a cheerleader would know that, right? It was also Meiling who told me that you used to be one."

"And my popularity?"

"You give off that air-" His eyes narrowed slightly. "That air of someone who just got kicked out of the popular group."

I feigned denial. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Impatience bubbled underneath the surface of his unfazed face. I could hear it crackle in the air between us, but I stood my ground.

"And even if I was apart of the team, what does that have anything to do with you?" I asked defiantly, shaking off his hold. I crossed my arms angrily. "I don't even know you."

"Did you know?" Li leaned into me, our faces dangerously close. His nose barely grazed mine as I stared into his deep brown eyes, noticing golden flecks in the irises. "Your eyes." His breath fluttered against my lips but I felt no other emotion besides fury. "They turn wistful whenever you look at them. It's like you want to join them but something is holding you back."

My fingernails dug into my palms. "You insufferable-" I propelled him away from me. "-little-" I heatedly poked him in the chest. "-bastard." I hissed.

He caught my retreating hand, strangling it in his large one. "Then prove it to me. If you go over there and give it _your all_ but you don't get in, then I'll leave you alone."

I mulled over his proposition, before adding as an afterthought, "and get everyone else to leave me alone."

Li nodded and stepped towards the field but I called out to him.

"Wait." I wiggled my hand out of his grasp and offered it to Li like a normal human being. "Shake on it."

He made an aggravated grunt, then took it. The tower commenced its ringing, making Li jostle me over to the contestants. The spectators all took a seat while Meiling stood up and strode over to us.

"Glad you could make it." She chirped, her voice floating in the air.

I gulped audibly. The girls around me didn't ease my nerves one bit, since they too were nervous. A sheen of sweat formed in places I didn't even know I could sweat from. I uneasily pushed a stray bit of hair behind my ear.

"Raise your hand if you were a cheerleader last year."

I was tempted to not raise my hand, but Li caught my eye and looked at me warningly.

Holy crap. Can he read minds or something?

Sighing, I lifted my arm up along with most of the other girls.

Meiling nodded. "Alright, those of you who weren't, go to the side with Chiharu and learn the basics from her."

The rest of the girls obeyed, shuffling to the side. The pigtail girl from before was waiting for them.

"Alright. Who here remembers the last routine you performed?"

Now only half raised their hands, including me. Realization was beginning to dawn on me. My heart palpitated faster and a faint buzzing noise echoed in my ears. The last routine I did was for the cheerleading finals, and it was the hardest routine I had ever learned.

"The ladies who don't remember are disqualified. I'm very sorry."

With protesting mutters, the females were escorted away from us and into the interested crowd.

Meiling's eyes took us in with approval. "Congratulations, you have made it to the _real_ tryouts. Who wants to perform their routine first?"

We all looked at each other, unsure of what to do. A brave girl volunteered and we all backed up to give her space on the grassy field. While we watched her and several others perform, adrenaline began to pour into my veins in copious amounts. The group dwindled until there was only me; the last girl who accompanied me finishing up her act flawlessly. I felt like I was trying out for the first time, intimidation and fear setting in finally.

What the hell was I doing here?

"Kinomoto, you're up."

My cousin's voice slapped me out of my thoughts. Stepping up robotically, I noticed that the number of students watching had multiplied drastically. Sifting through the numerous faces, I beheld Li with beseeching eyes.

"Do your best. We shook on it." His lips formed, smirking at me triumphantly.

My breathing slowed down as I cleared my mind of everything. I felt hyperaware of my surroundings, settling into my beginning stance with my game face on. Something inside me stirred, igniting flames I put out a long time ago.

Then, with a loud exhale, I took a running start. I executed a series of flips, gaining momentum in the process, and flying up into the air, where I did three mini spins. My feet touched the grass momentarily before I pounced back up. Another midair flip. Now the transition; I hopped up as high as I possibly could, pointing my toes perfectly and gracefully performing the splits, coming back down with a perfectly executed somersault. Immediately after that, I jumped from my crouched position, unfurling and twisting my body so that I landed on the grass with a reverberating _thud_. I remembered to strategically slap my hands out a moment before impact to protect my body and face. Then came the hardest part; the quintuple finisher. I mentally prepared myself, back flipping exactly three times and soared into the air.

I twirled in the air once... twice... three times... four... and I made it to five just in time. I landed solidly on my feet, allowing a tear to slip out from the exhilaration cheerleading gave me.

I finally understood Li. He knew how much I missed this. How much I missed everything. How much I missed flying up in the air without a care in the world. Flying up and away. This was what made my life complete before reality caught up.

The roaring noise of hoots, cheers, and enthusiastic clapping pounded into my unprotected ears. I was abruptly pulled into the present, numb with shock at how many people were standing around me with impressed and awed looks.

A sob bubbled up in my throat. I sought out Meiling's concerned eyes, choking out, "I need to go." The crowd parted for me, some even giving me pats on the back and whistles.

"Kinomoto." Li called, but I was still in a state of shock.

And I did what I did best. I ran away.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Thank you so much to Fate Kashigo, Ree-Vance, anon, image, and James Birdsong for your reviews.

And I would like to address James Birdsong personally. Your comment, though appreciated, confused me to no end. I would like to inquire what you mean by, "I guess [the two chapters] are good". Could you please elaborate upon what I can improve, since your "guess" was awfully pretentious, and it quite honestly hurt my pride as an author. If you don't like my story, please say so explicitly and tell me what parts you hated. If you do like my story, then why on Earth would you use the word "guess"? I'm very sorry if you feel like I'm calling you out, but I post my stories up on this site for constructive criticism and to give other readers, like yourself, pleasure. So basically what I'm saying is: please try to avoid making comments like that in the future. They are both offensive and unhelpful to authors.

Thank you for your time.

And gosh... I'm very sorry if I scared off any potential reviewers from reviewing. If you like this story or find an error, by all means... please review!


	4. Cheerleaders and horror movies

I probably looked like shit.

The red eyes, the snotty nose, the puffy face... I slowed down to a trot and plunked down on the sidewalk. How could I have settled for that stupid deal? Honestly, what the hell got into me? I could've said no, and just stuck with my original policy of ignoring Li. But nooo, I had to agree and- ugh. I probably didn't make it into the team. Not after disappearing like that... My thoughts whirled round and round in circles.

So, as much as I may be inclined to resume with my thinking, I looked around with a perplexed look. Jesus, I ran all the way to the plaza? My pathetic sniffles subsided as I stood up and brushed off my skirt nonchalantly. Good. Pretend like nothing happened, Sakura, and walk away.

Well, I did just that but unfortunately I tripped in the process. Damn it.

Looking around quickly, I was relieved to see that no one saw. As casually as I could, I walked away from the crime scene. I was in the process of shouldering my backpack strap when a 'now hiring' sign in front of a bookstore caught my attention. A light bulb went off in my head as I realized that this could be a potential hunting ground for guys.

I entered the dusty bookstore, the bell causing me to jump.

"Hello?"

My voice vanished as I took in the man's familiar midnight blue hair and black eyes. His glasses were lazily perched on the tip of his nose before he pushed them up instinctively. I noticed that he was out of his uniform and in a pair of slacks and gray sweater.

On a scale from one to Ryan Reynolds, Mr. Hot Pot came pretty damn close to Ryan.

"May I help you?" He asked politely, putting down his book on the counter in front of him. I took a quick glance at it and couldn't help but release a toothy grin.

Could he get any more perfect?

"I love that book. _East of Eden_ by John Steinbeck, right?"

He looked taken aback. "You know Steinbeck?"

I nodded my head furiously. "Of course I know him. Who doesn't?"

He let out a pleasant laugh that made me swoon. God, I love smart boys.

"Kinomoto Sakura, right?"

A tingle ran through my spine as he pronounced my name. I giggled like a little high school girl, subconsciously tucking my hair behind my ear.

"How did you know?" I asked him, going into hunting mode. I put on my best flirtatious smile and approached him.

Instead of blushing, he just laughed and pushed up his glasses again. "We're in the same chem and calc class remember?"

Thrown off balance from his unexpected reaction, I stuttered. "Well, I mean I know that. I just meant... you know... not a lot of people pay attention in that class so I was surprised that you remembered my name." Up close, I could see under the fluorescent lighting that he had azure eyes, not black. I pinched myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming.

Yup, definitely not a dream.

"So what brings you here?" He inquired.

"Oh, I saw the sign outside and figured that I could use a part time job." I nearly hyperventilated with joy at the thought of working with Mr. Hot Pot everyday after school. This could turn out to be a very worthy romance manga.

He looked down at me blankly, then comprehension flashed in his dazzling eyes. "Ah! Are you talking about the 'now hiring' sign? Sorry, but that's for the store next door."

Disappointment sunk in my stomach like a precipitate in water. "You guys aren't hiring?"

He shook his head, cropped hair moving slightly. I furrowed my eyebrows and pouted.

"But thank you, anyways. If it weren't for the sign, I wouldn't have been able to meet the beautiful new girl."

Red colored the apples of my cheeks. Aw shucks.

"And I just found out that she's knows Steinbeck and is going out of her way to get a part time job. Plus, the store next door really needs the help. I think it's awfully generous of you to apply."

I fidgeted, butterflies fluttering around in my abdomen. I needed to leave before I embarrassed myself further. "Thank you very much, but I should probably go now... don't want to distract you from your work. I'll see you tomorrow?" I added hopefully.

He raised a hand and flashed me his teeth. "Yeah, see you."

Oh my goodness. He had dimples. The boy had dimples!

I left the store with a dreamy smile. After cooling my hot cheeks down, I pranced over to the store next door elatedly. But the moment I entered, my eyes were buffeted by hot pink and lace.

"Welcome to Victoria Secret!"

Oh holy mother of-

"Are you here to try on some of our bras? We're currently having our semi-annual sale!" A busty woman sauntered over to me. She had long platinum hair with green highlights and impeccable smoky eyes. She practically oozed confidence.

"Er..."

She inspected my face closely. "Oh, darling! What's the matter? You look like your boyfriend just broke up with you."

I gasped, horrified. Schinkes, I totally forgot about how puffy my face was! And I talked to Mr. Hot Pot like this. I wanted to curl up on the ground in mortification.

Of course this would happen to me.

Without further ado, the woman led me deeper into the lingerie store and into the back. She grabbed her purse from her mini locker and took out some concealer. During the process of dabbing the creamy solution around my eyes, the woman introduced herself. "I'm Kakuga Michiru."

"Kinomoto Sakura."

Wow. She used the same cherry blossom shampoo as me. And those green highlights are really rad...

"The little sister of Touya?" Surprise covered her voice.

"You know my brother?"

She hummed, resuming with her dabbing. "So, tell me. Who's the bastard that did this to you?"

I sighed, the tryouts barging into my thoughts. "No, a guy didn't do this. It was my stupidity."

She finished, leaning back as she slipped her stuff back into their rightful place. "Want to talk about it?"

I shook my head vehemently. I couldn't trouble her with my problems. Not after she treated me with unconditional kindness.

Kakuga hummed some more before hitting her palm with her fist. "Oh, now I know why you're here. You want to get hired, don't you?"

How is it that everybody knows exactly what I'm thinking? Was there a sign hanging above my head that announced to the world my thoughts? I wildly whipped my hand around, trying to find said sign but found nothing.

"Don't worry, honey. I'm very good at reading people." She reassured me, placing a perfectly manicured hand on my knee.

I chuckled nervously, inching away from the female.

"Just wait a moment while I go get the application. I'm assuming that you're... what? Eighteen? Seventeen?"

"Yeah, seventeen."

She whistled under her breath. "The boys must be tripping all over themselves at your school."

Another nervous chuckle came from yours truly. "Um... sure."

Kakuga left in a waft of cherry blossoms before coming back with a packet in hand. "Here you go, hun. Just turn these in whenever you want. I have a good feeling about you. The girls who come in looking to apply for the job are usually brainless bimbos. But you-" She lightly tapped my forehead. "You're different. I can see it in your eyes."

I slapped a hand to my forehead, perturbed by how physical this woman was. "Alright, thanks... I guess? But what does this job entail?"

"Basically all you have to do is help women pick out bras, occasionally measure them if they're not sure what size they are, and fold the lingerie whenever you're not busy." Kakuga listed off indifferently.

I tried to hide my scandalized look, but she seemed to have caught it because she started laughing.

"Listen, honey. It's really not as bad as it seems. Plus, you get fifteen bucks an hour along with employee benefits."

After I heard the salary, I was sold.

There was only one problem.

"But what if my brother finds out? Or what if one of my classmates see me working here? I'll become the official school skank." I buried my face in my hands at the thought.

That'd be as unpleasant as the time Touya pantsed me in first grade.

Yeah, my life ruled.

The woman tapped her chin thoughtfully, before brightening up. "Wear a wig. And I have a couple of colored contacts for you to wear... you do wear contacts, right?"

I nodded and told her the degrees of my vision. Much to my surprise, and her delight, we turned out to have the same vision.

"How perfect is this?" She squealed happily.

I couldn't help but smile at her enthusiasm, discovering her charm to be endearing.

"Anyway, I'm guessing you should get home now. Go through that back door there."

I followed her instructions, waving to her once, and left. Once I got home, I immediately headed straight to my room after briefly greeting Kaho.

"Welcome back, Sak-"

"I'm back." And I promptly shut the door.

Heaving my bag onto the bed, I felt inclined to fill the forms out right away. Kakuga, as touchy and dauntingly beautiful as she may be, made me want to work with her. Something about her bubbly personality drew me in, and I found myself thinking that working at an underwear store wouldn't be as bad as it appeared. And I would get to work near Mr. Hot Pot, which was a definite benefit. Then the realization hit me like the time Touya body slammed me when I was in middle school.

I didn't even know Mr. Hot Pot's name.

* * *

><p>It was midnight and I was finished with filling out the application and doing my homework. You may be asking yourself why this was significant, because midnight doesn't seem that late. But in Kinomoto Sakura World, Sakura couldn't just sleep at regular times.<p>

No, she just had to get these lovely dreams of someone creeping up behind her and slicing and dicing her like sashimi.

Mmmm... bloody Sakura bits. It's a delicacy.

Anyway, so there I was, mindlessly surfing the web for punny (geddit?) chemistry jokes, when a dark silhouette moved in the corner of my eye.

I toppled out of my computer chair, scared spitless. "Gah! Holy shitake mushrooms- what the fudge was that?"

Warily crawling over to the window, I peered out and saw a flash of chocolate brown jump down from the cherry blossom tree before it was obscured by our neighbor's fence.

Li?

I slumped against the wall, the gears in my mind clicking. What was Li doing here in the middle of the night? Why was he climbing the tree? Unless... he and Meiling were sneaking around?

I cackled, evil smirk lifting the corners of my lips up.

Finally, I had leverage over that mother father. Excellent.

* * *

><p>After about five hours of sleep- which was a lot, mind you- I headed to school with a bounce in my step. Not because I was looking forward to seeing Kakuga again, and not because I knew Li's dirty little secret, but because Kaho made me my favorite lunch.<p>

Can I hear a holler for omelet rice? Yeah, that's right son... or daughter... how about father?

Spying a buttload of people crowding around the bulletin board, I decided to go over and investigate. Only the bell rang and everyone dispersed.

Eh, it probably wasn't that important.

I dragged my feet to homeroom, hoping with all my heart that everyone wouldn't stare at me again. I slid the door open and was disappointed. Eyes swiveled towards me appraisingly. However, there was one change that made my day.

Naoko was sitting in the desk next to mine.

I happily darted forward and bopped up and down like a bunny on crack. "Are you sitting here now?"

She nodded shyly, looking down and twiddling her thumbs. "If you don't mind that is."

I nearly threw my hands up and screamed, 'mind? Of course I don't mind, you silly goose!'. Instead I gave her my best grin and said, "you picked the best seat, girl."

Good. Easy with the weird. Easy with the weird, Kinomoto.

The first half of the class flew by in a flash since I was having a ton of fun passing notes to Naoko. That girl made so many literary references it made my head spin.

Note to self: look up funny literature jokes at home.

Although there was a tiny thing that put a damper on things. Everyone in my class kept looking at me. Even the students from the other classes stopped by my room, muttering to each other behind their hands like I did something scandalous.

Which I hadn't, by the way. Honest to God! No, really guys. I didn't do anything bad... besides not wash my hair last night... but that's because I didn't feel like it!

Lunch was over, and Naoko kept looking over her shoulder at the students who kept coming by the classroom with odd looks. I just ignored them, but felt extremely apologetic to Naoko. She probably wasn't used to the unwanted attention.

"I'm so sorry, Sakura. How do you deal with this many people talking about you?" She asked me in an impressed voice.

I shrugged indifferently. "I'm used to it. I got this a lot in my old school, too. I just didn't think that the same thing would happen here." I sighed and tapped the desk thoughtfully. "Trust me, I tried going under the radar... but as you can tell, that didn't work."

The bell rung, ending lunch, and I packed my stuff up enthusiastically. Naoko laughed at my excitement.

"See you later at gym."

I gave her a geeky salute. "Aye, aye, capt'n."

Naoko rolled her eyes before Yamazaki beckoned to me.

"So I heard through the grapevine that you-"

"Why is it a grapevine?" I interrupted, clutching my lab notebook to my chest.

For some reason, it really bothered me. Honestly, a _grapevine_ of all things? They weren't even that impressive! No offense to the people who like grapevines, by the way.

"You don't know?" Yamazaki asked me incredulously.

I halted mid-step. "No..."

Yamazaki slapped his forehead with an exasperated sigh. Never before had I felt so clueless.

"Sakura, Sakura, Sakura! Everybody knows why!"

I burned with embarrassment.

"Listen. Back then, during the time when mills were owned by rumors and huge garden of grapevines existed, the government was corrupt and it spied on its citizens in case one of them decided to hold an uprising. The citizens, once they found this out, were outraged and discovered that if they hid in grapevines, the government couldn't listen in on their conversation. No one knew why this was; some even went as far as to say that the rebels placed transmitters under the vines which interfered with the government's fancy bugs and-"

I hung onto his every word, my mouth gaping and my eyes as big as tennis balls. I never knew how hardcore people used to be a couple of years ago!

We got to the room, Yamazaki courteously holding the door open, and I stilled in the doorway. A strong sense of enmity slammed into me from one of the girls in the class. I recognized her to be Chi... Chiaki? Chihiro?

"Now, the moles of ethanol- ah. If it isn't the tardy duo."

"Yo, M-dawg. What's a crackin' lackin'?"

A loud noise escaped the teacher's flared nostrils. "I'm about to crack your head open, Squinty Eyes. That's what's 'a crackin' lackin'.'"

I scurried to my desk, grateful that Yamazaki took the limelight away from me. I should seriously bake that guy a batch of chocolate chip cookies.

Nom nom... cookies... I could go for some right now.

"Cookies?" An low voice said behind me.

Oh no, did I just say that out loud?

"Yes, you did just say that out loud." Li answered.

Warmth rose up my neck. I swear, if there was a contest for having the most embarrassing moments, I would be the gold prize winner.

"Mind your own business." Was my clever reply.

Li snickered under his breath while I pretended that he wasn't there. I searched for Mr. Hot Pot's dark blue hair, and was rewarded with him giving me an enchanting smile.

I fanned myself covertly, which didn't quite work out because I ended up slapping my face.

Luckily Mr. Hot Pot looked away just in time, but guess who saw my moment of clumsiness?

Yeah, Li did.

Narrowing my eyes at the male who was attempting to stifle his sniggers, I muttered, "I know what you did last night."

His laughter stilled and he gave me a weird look.

I slipped a strand of hair behind my ear, tittering at my ill-conceived statement.

"Sorry. I meant, I saw you sneaking out of Meiling's room last night. Care to explain yourself?"

Li reverted back to his amused face, usual smirk in place. "Stalking me?"

I hooted loudly and slapped my knee before I could help myself.

The whole class stared.

"Where's the funny at, New Girl? Let's hear it." Miss Matsutaki held her pen up threateningly.

Violently waving my hands in the air, I said, "no, I was just... Erm... I was looking at my formula and thought that it looked silly because... it isn't balanced and of course you need to balance equations so..." I blabbed.

Good save, Sakura. She definitely bought that one.

Everyone gave me identical odd looks, besides Mr. Hot Pot, who merely watched with twinkling eyes.

Sigh. He's such a cutie.

"You're staring." Li's obnoxious voice interrupted my daydream of Mr. Hot Pot and I on a date.

I refused to let his sass ruin my moment. "It's called admiring, you blubbering jerk."

Li was silent for a moment. I smiled widely to myself as I examined my future boyfriend's back.

Look at his shoulders. He has such broad shoulders. I swear, not even Michelangelo could have captured how perfect it was.

"It's kind of creepy."

"You know?" I abruptly hissed, good mood gone. "You know how in horror movies there is always that one character who annoys the bejizzles out of the protagonist, and ends up dieing in the end? Yeah, you're that character."

His tawny-brown eyes turned pensive. "Isn't that character usually a cheerleader?"

"Yes." I replied shortly. My goodness. I cannot see, for the life of me, what Meiling saw in this insufferable git!

"Then shouldn't that be you?"

"Ugh! I am not a cheerleader."

Li gave me a sharp look. "You don't know?"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

The class ended, and everyone cleared out faster than you could say 'bollucks.'

He leant back, a gleeful smile leisurely making its way onto his face. "So you don't know."

Ooooh, how I wanted to wipe that smug smirk off with a toilet scrubber.

"You know, you have a vein popping out right... there." Li reached out a callused finger and touched my right temple. I flinched away from his touch like fire.

"If you don't tell me what you're talking about right now, I'm going to tell Touya about your nightly escapades." I warned, packing my stuff up and stepping away from Li.

Li did his infamous shrug. "Go on, tell him. And get your _lovely_ and _kind_ cousin in trouble."

Why that little-

"I'm leaving." I huffed, blood boiling in my veins.

He gave a little chuckle, then, "I'll come get you after your gym class. You'll see what I'm talking about."

"Right. I'm totally going to wait for you... Not!" I said sarcastically.

Yet here I was, impatiently waiting outside of the locker room and checking my watch after gym. Curiosity won in the end, and it frustrated me to no end. What was that saying? Curiosity killed the cat?

"So you did wait for me."

Arrogant, conceited, pompous, haughty, snobbish, pretentious, condescending-

"This way." He stuffed his hands into his pockets and strode towards the front of the school.

I followed behind, chanting curses at the boy. Then I promptly crashed into his back. "Ow! A little warning would've been appreciated."

Li turned his eyes upwards. "Stop being a drama queen and look."

With one last heated glare, I did as I was told. Comprehension came to me when I realized that I was looking at the list of new cheerleaders.

And at the top was Kinomoto Sakura: co-captain.

"So what was that about the cheerleader and horror movies and dieing in the end?"

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** I would like to give some warm fuzzies to amberwo0d, cherryblossoms08, separate with a comma, James Birdsong (I apologize, once again, if I came off as too harsh. You seem to be a very nice person), I wish I wasn't tone-deaf (I made sure to put the OOC label in the first chapter, thank you for the suggestion), Ree-vance, reader, and gamma-rae-star (your comment is awfully nice!).

Your reviews are what inspire me. Thank you all so much!


	5. Pie

"This must be a typo. Or I'm hallucinating. Or they're nuts, I don't care which one it is but I am most certainly not the co-captain."

Nuh uh. No siree.

Li crooked an eyebrow at me. "If you're hallucinating, then we're all hallucinating, Sweetheart."

"Of course! I mean... ack! I was so unprofessional! How in the world did I become co-captain? Did you not see the moment when I ran away like some character from a soap opera? Did you not see the moments when my toes were not pointed? And don't even get me started on how horribly I performed, because I did as badly as Ashlee Simpson singing live." I gestured crazily, nearly poking out his eyes.

"Will you just-"

"Who's the captain? I'm going to go find her and knock some sense into her." I resolutely declared, glancing around in the hopes of finding a blinking sign that said 'here's the cheer captain!' with an arrow.

"Wait."

A strong hand engulfed my elbow. Seriously, what's up with this guy and grabbing people? Didn't his momma teach him to not manhandle ladies?

"Meiling knew you'd act like this. She told me to tell you that it's not a typo and that your previous captain was insane to not make you co-captain."

I shrugged off his hold. "Then she's nuts."

Li snorted disbelievingly. "That's like the pot calling the kettle black."

"Shove off." I huffed. This was getting old, really fast. "I'm nuts. She's nuts. You're nuts. We're _all_ nuts, but it seems that only I have enough sense to correct this mistake."

He moved in front of me with unfathomable eyes. "Why can't you accept this?"

"Were you not listening to what I was saying?" I stomped my foot childishly.

"All I heard were excuses." Li told me harshly. He leaned in closely, "you are on the cheer squad. Deal with it."

At our distance, I could barely make out the honey gold streaks in his espresso brown pupils. They reminded me of autumn and fall-colored leaves and of toffee.

I shook my head in denial. "No."

"Yes. And you blew the rest of the girls out of the water."

A stunned silence washed over me. Did Li just compliment moi?

Li rubbed his face in an annoyed matter. "If you don't stop doubting yourself right now, I will hunt down Hiragizawa and tell him about your stupid crush."

I blinked out of my momentary shock. "Hiragizawa? Whozzat?"

Suddenly looking amused, the male said, "never mind. Let's go." And he started strolling away from me.

"Go where?" I dogged after him.

"I'm craving pie. Wasn't Yanagisawa talking about that new pie shop?"

"Oh! I was heading to the town plaza anyway... hold on." I abruptly froze, remembering our deal. "I tried out and gave it my all. Shouldn't you be... I don't know... leaving me alone now?"

"Sweetheart," he said patronizingly, "I said I would leave you alone if you gave it your all _and_ didn't make it on the team."

Ooooh, that little sneaky son of a gun.

"Wha- I- you- unbelievable! You're a liar and a scammer and you think you're all that, and- and- and I refuse to go out with you!"

A pregnant pause followed after my words and I blushed with mortification.

Oh, my God. Please tell me I didn't say what I think I just said.

"I mean, not _go out_ with you but y'know... go out with you to the pie shop." I retracted clumsily, crimson staining my face as I shoved my light brown hair behind my ear. "And who said that I was actually going to join the team?"

He sighed one of those exasperated sighs that my brother always used to give me. "You're fucking insane."

"No, seriously. They may have my name up on that list but that doesn't mean I have to join."

I wasn't going to travel down that road. Not again.

"Syaoran! Sakura" A certain crimson-eyed female caught up to us.

Perfect. Of course Meiling would show up now.

"Congratulations, Sakura! I knew you were brilliant. That routine was breathtaking but I never got the chance to tell you because you ran off." She hugged me tightly, catching me off guard.

I wasn't expecting her to use my first name in public. But I guess that now I'm a cheerleader, I was considered as part of her 'crowd.' "Erm... thank you? Although I don't understand why you chose to make me co-captain."

This time Meiling caught the hysterical laughter disease. She burst out in uncontrollable laughter at my statement, causing her to grip onto my shoulders tightly. She wiped her eyes after saying, "good one, Sakura."

I looked at Li with wide eyes, pleading him to get his girlfriend off of me. He gave me a noncommittal shrug, looking on with a slight smirk. After patiently waiting for her to collect herself, I decided to tell Meiling my decision.

"Right, well I hate to break it to ya, but I'm not joining."

Yeah, that was subtle, Sakura. You definitely broke it to her delicately.

Meiling goggled at me like I was a talking stuffed animal. My eyes darted upwards in return.

Look at the clouds! They're so puffy and wispy and fun...

"Why?" The raven-haired female asked me seriously. "Why are you so against becoming a cheerleader?"

"Don't bother asking, Meiling. She's not going to answer you." Li answered sardonically.

I narrowed my eyes dangerously at him. He thought he knew me, did he? But the sad thing was that I knew he was right. I would never be able to answer Meiling's question.

And he knew it too.

"Please, Sakura?" Meiling seized my hands and latched on like an octopus. "Please? We really need you. I can't trust the rest of the cheerleaders because they're not my cousin. And we need your phenomenal skills to help us make it to the cheerleading finals this year. We haven't won first place for ten years!" The female was on the brink of tears and I felt my resolve crumble away to dust.

With an alarmed face I consented to the teary girl. "Oh gosh, please don't cry! I'm sorry! I'll do it. I'll be a cheerleader! Just lead me to the captain so that I can formally introduce myself."

In a millisecond, Meiling's shiny eyes went back to normal and were twinkling with happiness. She stuck out a slim hand and said chirpily, "it's very nice to meet you Kinomoto Sakura. I'm Mizuki Meiling, your new cheer captain."

My heart tripped for a moment as I let out a strained smile. Meiling was the captain? I should've seen this coming.

"Anyways, where are you guys going?"

Gently extracting my hand from Meiling, I was struck with the fact that I was about to go gallivanting with her boyfriend.

Her. Boyfriend.

I can just feel a migraine coming on.

"Holy- please don't misunderstand! Honest to God... or whatever deity you believe in, unless you're atheist in which case I totally support your decision... I wasn't about to run off with your boyfriend!"

Meiling giggled with a carefree wave.

Shizzle. The giggle. Giggles were never good.

"Don't worry about it. Li Syaoran would never cheat on his girlfriend."

The invisible bands which constricted my lungs lightened. Thank goodness, she believed me.

"Unless you like him?"

An expression reminiscent of the 'dear-caught-in-the-headlights' look came onto my face while the air around us grew a couple of degrees colder.

Ruh roh.

"Oh goodness, no." I let out a breathy laugh. "I go for the nerdy, quiet guys."

The air around us cleared, much to my relief. Meiling bid us a bubbly farewell. "Practice starts next week on Monday after school. Don't be late!"

I smiled weakly. "Yeah, okay."

It was deafeningly silent when Meiling left. Li, thankfully, quirked an eyebrow at me and said, "still want pie?"

I shook my head sullenly.

"My treat."

"Let's go then." I flounced up next to him, sulky mood forgotten.

I faintly heard him mutter, "freeloader" but I disregarded it.

Li promptly spun around and continued down the path. I automatically followed.

Boy, was that close though. I thought Meiling was going to tear my hair out for a second there.

"So..." I trailed off, hating the silence which stretched between us.

He remained mute. Jerk.

"What was that 'Li Syaoran would never cheat on his girlfriend' doodad whatsits?" We passed by a couple of students on our way to the town square. "You're a jock. Don't you have a reputation to uphold?"

Li finally broke his silence. "Didn't you mom tell you to not judge books by their covers?"

I conceded defeat. "Alright, you win. Now buy me my pie." I commanded, coming to a stop in front of the pie shop. Without further delay, I headed in and was amazed by the wide array of pies on display.

This place was like heaven on Earth. I could definitely see myself coming here often.

A beautiful woman with a wavy bob greeted us at the counter. "Welcome! How may I help you two?"

Mouth watering, I told her my order and Li stuck with a boring cup of coffee.

"Right, so I'll be right back. Gotta go drop something off." I informed my silent companion, exiting the quaint cafe without waiting for his reply.

I spotted the hot pink Victoria's Secret store across the plaza. Glancing around covertly, I snuck into the store and promptly rammed into Kakuga.

"What the- ah! Sakura, how nice to see you!" She laughed, picking up the pair of lacy underwear she dropped.

"I'm so sorry, Kakuga. I can be such a klutz sometimes." I apologized.

She waved her hand lightheartedly. "Call me Kagami. Kakuga sounds too old for me. And don't worry 'bout it. Do you have your application?"

I nodded eagerly, shoving it into her hands. "As much as I want to stay here and chit chat with you, I kinda have to go, Kagami. My cousin's boyfriend is waiting for me in that new pie shop and I don't want him to start looking for me."

Kagami's seafoam green eyes took on a merry glint. "I see. I didn't know you swung like that, Sakura."

I nudged her playfully in the ribs. "Oh hush." And after checking if the coast was clear, I slunk out of the store and into the pie shop.

Li sat in the far corner with a bored expression. The women who were in the cafe openly stared at him, making me feel extremely self-conscious when I joined him.

"Victoria's Secret, huh?" He drawled, turning his smirking face towards me suddenly.

I sputtered. How the hell did he know?

"I saw you walking in there. You aren't as sly as you think you are." Li leaned back in his chair, setting his arms behind his head comfortably.

"It's not what you think!" I blurted out, attempting to formulate a believable lie. "I... er... I went in there because my... er... sister works there. Yeah!" I brightened up considerably at my quick thinking. "I was visiting my sister. Duh."

Ten points for Gryffindor!

"You sister work there. Right." Li languidly pulled out a familiar piece of paper out.

It was then when I belatedly realized that I turned in the wrong paper.

Crap.

"Then what's this? I believe it's an application to Victoria's Secret with Kinomoto Sakura's name on it."

I squeaked, the back of my neck suddenly feeling very warm. "Please don't tell anyone."

Li hummed thoughtfully, tapping the table to a random melody. "What's in it for me?"

"Um..." I made a wild grab for it, thinking that I could catch him off guard. But I was sadly mistaken. Li seemed to have anticipated this move because he lazily stuck his arm out of my reach.

Damn it! Was he Edward Cullen or something?

"I know." Li paused momentarily as I sat back down with a huff. "I'll keep quiet if you agree to tell me why you won't be a cheerleader."

Dread gripped my heart. "How about no. Go ahead, tell everyone. But no one's going to believe you."

An eyebrow shot up. "I think you underestimate me, Sweetheart."

Ugh. There it was again. That demeaning nickname he was so fond of.

"Okay, listen here mister. One: stop calling me that. You think it's clever when really it's just immature. And two: I think you underestimate _me._ You think you know everything about me, don't you? Sorry to break it to you, pal, but you don't. You never will, nor will anyone else." I meant to sound calm, but the opposite broke out. I ended up sounding sarcastic and broken, and I did not like the direction this conversation was going.

It was time to go.

"Leaving?" His mocking voice echoed.

I was already halfway out of my chair by then.

"I see how it is." Li locked eyes with me, also getting up. An unknown emotion flickered in the depths of his amber eyes. "I'll let it go this time, Sweetheart. But next time-" He handed me my application and I took it robotically. "Next time, you'll tell me."

I whirled around to his retreating figure. "Why?"

"Because you intrigue me."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Thank you, thank you, thank you to amberwood, gamma-rae-star (gosh, do I love you reviews or what?), dreaming fantasy dreams, yasashii ma, endless sugar, a fan (so generous with the reviews!), crossover, reader, and fate kashigo! The next chapter will feature Tomoyo. ;)

Ah, and to gamma-rae-star and everyone else: Kakuga is the human manifestation of the Mirror card. Hence her nickname, "Kagami," which means mirror.

Reviews are as wonderful as having Li Syaoran treat you to pie. Seriously. They're that awesome.


	6. Inevitability

It's been a month since that day.

It's also been a month since I've started avoiding Li. Yeah, 'because you intrigue me...' What is that supposed to mean? Was there a subliminal message hidden in there or something?

I leisurely munched on my third heavenly banana cream hand pie. The owner of the shop, Rika, and I were officially on first name terms, since I pretty much went to her store everyday. And I finally became an official worker of Victoria's Secret; I now worked there after cheerleading in my impeccable disguise.

I'll elaborate upon that later.

But on that lovely warm May day, I was dangling a leg over the back of the ratty couch. I idly stared out the living room window. I was currently makeup-free and in my pajamas, which consisted of an oversized long-sleeved shirt and a pair of boxers. I felt like a total fat ass and I was lovin' it.

School was perfect, besides the occasional spaz attack whenever I spotted Li's mop of ashy brown hair. My grades hadn't changed since the beginning of the year; my fellow students have finally accepted me into their ranks; and I was currently a member of the Japanese Cancer Society and of the Tomoeda High Escort Service.

Now, before you go off on a rant accusing me of being a promiscuous scarlet woman for becoming an escort, you got another thing coming. You see, THES- a.k.a. Tomoeda High Escort Service- is a group of students who offer their services to escort other students home if the student feels scared or insecure about walking alone. Basically we were like your personal bodyguards and walking companions on call.

And before you scoff at me and tell me that I would make a lousy bodyguard- which Touya has already done- I shall inform you that I am a fifth dan black belt in Judo, thank you very much. During my one year of physical therapy, I chose to go with Judo, and after training for merciless hours, I am very proud to announce that I am a lethal weapon.

Please, hold your applause ladies and gentlemen. I know how impressed y'all are.

"I'm back!" Kaho's voice floated down the hall to my ears.

With Touya at work and Meiling gone someplace unknown, I felt obligated to roll off the couch and greet Kaho myself. I thrust my head into the hallway, spotting her bloated figure disappearing outside again. Curiosity flickering inside of me, I followed Kaho to the car and saw her struggling to get the groceries out of the trunk.

"What the- Kaho!" I reprimanded, nudging her out of the way.

She wiped her sweaty hair out of her eyes. "No, no, I got it. Go back inside and relax, Sakura."

Ignoring her, I smoothly looped the rest of the grocery bags around my arms and marched back inside. Honestly, the woman's pregnant! Everybody seems to be going insane lately. First Li, then Meiling, and now Kaho. Next thing you know, Touya will be asking me to run to the fabric store for... well, fabric.

Right. The chance of that happening begins with a 'Z' and ends with an 'O.' And rhymes with Kero.

Which would explain why I found myself in the middle of an empty fabric store at six o'clock in the night. I would say, 'wow, what a coinky-dink!' if not for Kaho's favorite saying: there is no coincidence in this world- there is only inevitability.

I love my life so much.

"'Come back quick, Monster. Or else we'll run out of shrimp tempura!'" I mimicked under my breath in my best Touya impression. "Bollucks. I wouldn't be missing out if you didn't have a brain the size of a pine nut!" I continued down the numerous walls of fabric in pursuit of Touya's requested dark blue dragonfly print.

Why did Touya even need fabric in the first place? He was as lousy at sewing as me. And that was because I tended to prick my fingers with the needle.

I smacked my lips distastefully at the thought of said sharp object. Fortunately, my favorite song came onto the store's radio and effectively disrupted my train of thought. I sang along with Maroon 5's _Sunday Morning_, doing my little geeky dance in the middle of the aisle and bobbing my head up and down madly.

The song progressed to the chorus when I turned around and froze mid-jig. A young, elegant girl stood at the end of the aisle with an inquisitive smile gracing her features. She had soft, dark purple hair that cascaded all the way down to her waist, and her fringe skimmed her luminous amethyst eyes. The girl was even paler than me, which was impressive since I was already extremely pale from staying inside the rehabilitation center for a whole year. She wore a fluffy cream blouse with a mustard yellow cardigan over it, high-waisted shorts, and a pair of oxford high heels.

"Egads- uh, no. Erm... I mean... You see... Ah-" I threw my hands up in the air. "Whatever. To hell with it all!" And grabbed her hands and started twirling her around.

You can imagine my surprise when she joined in on my geekery; with shining eyes, the female hummed along with me and showed me a couple of her own jigs.

I apologize to the fabric store owners. Although I think we scared them because no one came by to tell us to shut the puck up.

When the song came to an end, we had both collapsed on the ground in a fit of giggles and breathless laughter.

Okay, fine. I lied.

_I_ collapsed on the ground panting from jumping around so much.

"You-" I wheezed and flopped my arm in her general direction. She crouched by my prone form, and I could smell the scent of lavender and vanilla off of her. "You should go on 'So You Think You Can Dance.'"

The girl gave me the prettiest little smile, her dimple popping up. "Thank you. You're Kinomoto, right?"

Her voice was a little deeper than mine and huskier, but she made it sound classy- almost like Zooey Deschanel's voice. There was also something else in her voice that I couldn't quite place my finger on. What surprised me the most, though, was that she knew me.

"I'm sorry, but have we met before?" I asked her politely, furrowing my eyebrows in concentration. Normally I was very good with faces, but my brain brought up a blank.

Dear Lord, I hope I'm not losing it.

She shook her head at this. "Nope, never met. But we do go to the same school."

I noticed that the girl's speaking was a bit off, but I couldn't tell what it was. Nevertheless, I perked up from the tiled floor like a mole.

"You are as cute as a baby carrot." I tapped her button nose.

She stared.

"You like Maroon 5, you danced with me in the middle of a deserted fabric store, and you even have an honest to goodness dimple! Seriously, we have to be friends or else I will spontaneously combust. And trust me. You don't want to be splattered with my innards."

She showed me her dimple again before engulfing me in a hug. "Thank you." She told me simply, but the warm wetness that dripped onto my shoulder startled me.

"Excuse me, but are you..."

She sniffled a little and drew back. Her eyes were a little red and puffy, but she had on the biggest beam I had ever seen in my entire life.

"You're crying but smiling at the same time?"

And I thought Kaho had the biggest mood swings ever.

"I'm Daidouji Tomoyo." She said, and took out a handkerchief from her purse and dabbed her eyes with it. "I would love to be your friend."

I laughed giddily, whipping out my phone. We quickly exchanged numbers and agreed to meet tomorrow at Rika's pie shop. After that, we found our fabrics, then reluctantly parted ways. As a result, I arrived home a bit later than usual.

Oh well, making a new friend was way better than shrimp tempura. And tomorrow was the weekend, so Touya won't be on my case too much.

I walked into the warm kitchen. "Touya, you better not have eaten all of my tempura again, you..." I stopped short.

And there it was. The cutest little orange cat I had ever seen in my entire life sitting in the middle of the kitchen.

Touya grinned up at me from his crouched position. "My coworker's cat had some kittens, and she didn't want this one. I figured that you might like a companion to help with your homesickness."

I kneeled down and the ginger cat stalked over to me. It was as if the cat knew he was mine. He had tawny eyes and the softest looking fur, but his legs...

I choked down a laugh. "He's a little munchkin. His leg is only one inch tall!" Offering my hand out, the kitten sniffed and then rubbed his body against it. "You're just an adorable little huggle bunny, aren't you?" I cooed, sweeping up the cat. Much to my delight, his paws were white, making it look like he was wearing socks.

Kaho watched contently. "Well that settles it. He's all yours, Sakura. What are you going to name him?"

The name rolled off my tongue immediately. "Kero."

Meiling looked at me questioningly. "Kero? But he doesn't look remotely like a frog."

The corners of my lips lifted. "But Kero rhymes with zero, and I definitely was not expecting this." A fuzzy feeling warmed the pit of my stomach when Kero purred at the sound of his name.

Meiling gave me a perplexed look as Kaho placed a steaming bowl of rice on the table.

"We'll be right upstairs, dear. Meiling, why don't you go take a shower first? You seem to be a bit worn out."

She nodded her head and everyone went upstairs, leaving me in peace with my new pet. He stared at my pieces of fried shrimp hungrily, his short tail flicking back and forth. I uttered a small apology to him before gobbling everything up. I felt horrible when Kero looked at me dolefully, so I ended up sneaking him a piece of raw tuna from the fridge.

Fine, I was a bad owner for giving my cat human food. But you should've seen the way he looked at me!

Later that evening, after my shower, I decided to check in with my dad. We've been keeping in touch through e-mail, but it wasn't the same as hearing his voice. I sat on the hardwood floor with my back against my bed, teasing Kero with a string as the phone rang a couple of times.

"Hello?" My dad answered drowsily.

I stifled a giggle, checking the clock and realizing that it was past my father's bedtime. "Sorry, just wanted to tell you that I have a new pet! I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Sakura!" He sounded much more alert now. "How wonderful! I'm assuming that Touya got it for you?"

Dayum. That's Kinomoto Fujitaka for you. Always sharp on the uptake. Now if only I received that gift...

"Yup, and he's the most adorable iota of a cat you'll ever see. And he's a munchkin!"

Confusion laced his voice. "A... a munchkin?"

I nodded, even though I knew he couldn't see me. "Mmhmm. Basically Kero has a deformation that stunts the growth of his legs. His legs will probably grow to be about two inches tall and that's it."

"Have you always wanted a munchkin?" My father softly teased. His voice had a soothing quality to it, dulling the homesickness I felt.

"Abso-fruitly! I'm not even sure how Touya found out about my dirty little secret."

A rush of static told me that he was chuckling on the other end. "Okay, Honey. I'm feeling a bit tired. Call me again tomorrow at a less ungodly time?"

"'Kay, bye." I said before the line went died. I hung up, distracted by Kero's pawing at the piece of string.

We played for a little longer, then turned in for the night. I remembered to set my alarm for one hour later, taking care to put it on vibrate. Touya, Kaho, and Meiling didn't know that I couldn't sleep at night, and I would prefer to keep it that way.

I didn't want to add onto their burdens.

Luckily for me, Kero was unperturbed by my one hour naps throughout the night. In fact, he seemed to enjoy waking me up by batting at my ear, which was really helpful since I was pretty tired.

The next morning, I chose to officially wake up at 8 in the morning. The household was dead silent as I quietly got ready for a morning run. "Adieu, Kero. Adieu, my Prince Charming." I bade, pretending to be teary eyed.

He sat on the banister with a 'really?' look on his face.

Great. Now even my cat thought I was weird.

I lightly jogged down the street, wanting to warm up my body before stretching out my muscles, and came to the King Penguin park. Besides a couple of old grannies practicing their aerobic exercises, it was relatively empty. I took the chance to monopolize a whole bench to myself for my stretches. After a solid fifteen minutes of that, I set off again, this time I aimed for my school. I looped around the town plaza, coming across the lane which connected it to the downtown area, before running to the school. Once again, the gates were open, so I headed inside. Allowing my feet to take me wherever they want, I whistled along to my iPod, until my feet landed right at the edge of the soccer field where a gathering of boys were.

Uh oh. This isn't going to turn out well.

I was prepared to make my sneaky escape when I saw Li clap his hands and emerge from the group. My heart stopped for a beat. Before when I first saw him, his jersey had the number 13. And now? Well, now it just had to have the number 1 on it.

One. Like soccer captain _one_.

Everything felt so surreal, it felt like the past was catching up to me. It really was inevitable, wasn't it?

"Sakura?"

I flinched from surprise, then saw that it was Tomoyo. I gave her a weak smile. "Fancy seeing you here."

Tomoyo gracefully walked up to be and peered over my shoulder. A knowing look came onto her face and a scary glint shone in her eye. "They're holding the soccer tryouts right now. Keep me company while I videotape them!" She linked arms with me without further ado and forcefully dragged me over to them.

Holy- the girl was stronger than she looked!

"Uhh... Tomoyo. Yo, Tomoyo... Yeah, I _really_ don't think it's a great idea to-"

She shushed me, sneakily planting us in a clump of bushes by the soccer field. From our point, you could see everything that was happening.

"Why are we hiding?" I asked dumbly.

She half-squealed, half-giggled. "We're videotaping them, obviously."

"And I ask again, why are we hiding like a bunch of convicts on the run?"

"Because if they knew we were videotaping, then they wouldn't do- well. You'll see." A scary gleam came into her amethyst eyes.

I peeked through the bushes against my better judgment, the urge to flee no longer burning inside of me. Tomoyo seemed to have a calming effect on me, which was odd considering how hyperactive she was turning out to be.

"So." Li's voice called out authoritatively. "You guys think you're good enough to join the team."

A couple of sarcastic remarks erupted from the gaggle. I whistled under my breath at their boldness, but Li didn't seem too happy about it.

"Ten laps around the field. Now." He commanded.

After a bout of groans, they set off. When they were done, most of them looked like they were about to pass out. I readjusted my position into a more comfortable one while Tomoyo remained still like a statue. A sense of nostalgia woke up in the back of my mind, as a distant memory flashed momentarily before my eyes. I shook my head firmly.

Then the rest of the team showed up, all of them wearing their respective maroon and white jerseys. My heart fluttered at the sight of Mr. Hot Pot, but dismay swirled around me.

He was a soccer player. My intelligent knight in shining armor and glasses was a soccer player.

"Here we go." Tomoyo said excitedly, bringing me out of my reverie. "Here comes the money shot."

Under normal circumstances- like, if we weren't hiding- I would've give her my best frightened look. But since I was stuck with her, and I didn't want to blow Tomoyo's cover, I sucked it up and continued watching. My eyes lingered on Mr. Hot Pot's figure before Li's next words hit me like a bucket of ice cold water.

"Alright. You guys against us- shirts versus skins." He, then, proceeded to take off his shirt, revealing his subtle six-pack. The others followed suit, Mr. Hot Pot still smiling cheerfully despite his lack of clothing.

Hot momma- No. I mean... Sakura, stop tainting your innocent mind with their very delectable bodies!

My hand promptly slapped to my eyes, creating a loud noise. I froze in fear that they heard me. Luckily, they didn't.

A whistle was blown, and judging from the groans and the smacking of the soccer ball, Li's team was winning. Tomoyo shoved my unresisting hand out of the way and 'forced' me to watch them play.

My eyes immediately landed on Mr. Hot Pot, appreciating the way his body undulated and flexed fluidly. A flush crept up the back of my neck as my gaze eventually landed on Li. I was awestruck by the pure power he exuded with every kick, as he relentlessly forged forward and shot goal after goal on the other team.

As much as I may hate to admit it, Li Syaoran rightfully earned his title as captain.

While I was wrapped up in my creepy stalk- _watching_, Tomoyo was observing me from the corner of her eye.

"Li, huh?" She commented quietly. Tomoyo made sure to turn off the voice recorder on her video camera.

"What about Li?" I asked, tilting my head towards her.

She peered at me with her mauve eyes. "You were totally checking him out."

I blushed vehemently. "No I wasn't."

Gosh, I seem to be saying that phrase a lot.

She disregarded my response though. Tomoyo plowed on, "Li is definitely not the type to cheat on his girlfriend. In fact, before Meiling, Li's past girlfriends would always end up cheating on him. My sources tell me that the reason they did it was because he was too loyal." She tapped her chin thoughtfully. "In which case, I guess you could say that he's loyal to a fault."

We both looked at the amber-eyed boy pensively.

"So I guess Meiling is the best thing that has ever happened to him. How long have they been together for?"

"About four years. I heard that their families agreed to have them engaged. Imagine how much of a monopoly the Mizuki and Li clan would have over the business industry."

"Good for them." A swell wistfulness rose in me for the couple. They really were made for each other. I was glad that they found the happiness that they deserved.

Another whistle sounded as we watched Li announce something and everyone dispersing. We stayed put in our hiding spots, now waiting on Li and Mr. Hot Pot. When they, too, left, Tomoyo and I rose up. My joints protested as I languidly stretched out.

"Did we put on a nice show, ladies?"

My blood ran cold at the familiar drawl. I peeked over my shoulder to see...

"Fancy seeing you here, Li."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Gamma-rae-star: hahahaa, you were _very_ close. Good job though, your guess was very good despite my lack of hints!

Ms Amber: I like your new pen name, I think you should keep it. I hope you liked this chapter... teehee

reader: :) thank you so much for the review! I'm glad you liked the last sentence AND story.

Ree-vance: oh, don't worry about it. I do that all the time, too! OMG I love the scent from B&B! And thank you. Scooby Doo ftw.

And thank you to yem-chan for the kind review. ;) I didn't forget you.

Reviews are as delectable as a half-naked Syaoran. Have I scared off all y'all with my creepiness yet?


	7. So

"Fancy seeing you here, Kinomoto. Daidouji." Li parroted back, crossing his arms in front of his bare chest.

Bare. Chest.

I slapped a hand over my wounded eyes, hyperaware of the red alarm lights going off in my head while Tomoyo tactfully ejected the tape from her camera and slipped it into her pocket. I recited the numbers of pi to calm my nerves.

3.14159265...

"What are you doing here, Li?" Tomoyo asked innocently, as if she wasn't aware that minutes before she was videotaping a group of sweaty high school males. "Sakura tripped and fell while I was taping her for my new video production class, the clumsy thing." She looked at me with a pitying face.

... 35897... wait. What did she say?

I squawked in protest and uncovered my eyes, only to immediately turn cherry red at the sight of Li.

Dang hormones.

Tomoyo leaned in conspiratorially. She beckoned to Li, who complied. "Although, I do say, your new outfit is quite becoming. You should wear it more often. Don't you think so, Sakura dearest?"

Glancing at Li's smug smirk, I awkwardly tucked a stray piece of hair behind my ear. Hurriedly changing the subject, I said, "Tomoyo dearest, shouldn't we be going to... that thing we were supposed to be at five minutes ago?"

She gave me a knowing smile, and for a split second I thought she was going to call me out on my lie. But Tomoyo simply nodded.

"Right! Thank you for reminding me of our shopping trip. I almost forgot."

Li had a skeptical look. We put on our best innocent faces.

Hah. Try calling us out on this lie, you testosterone-driven, half-naked soccer player.

"Why are you guys going on a shopping trip?"

My face fell. Shoot. I didn't think that far. I looked at Tomoyo with my 'ruh roh' face.

Without a glance in my direction, she put on an award winning smile and replied with, "we're going dress shopping."

Brilliant, Tomoyo. I knew you were my friend for a reason.

I nodded vigorously. "Yeah, dresses."

She continued, her smile now becoming devious. "For the homecoming dance next week."

I bobbed my head up and down three more enthusiastic times before stopping short. Fully facing her head on, I repeated, face aghast, "for the homecoming dance next week?"

Tomoyo clapped her hands delightedly. "So..."

"I never like it when someone starts with 'so...'" I muttered to myself, face paling.

So's are like the calm before the storm. Or one of the signs of the apocalypse.

Li and Tomoyo ignored my nonsensical mutterings, the former curious as to what Tomoyo was delightedly clapping her hands about.

"So why don't you invite your girlfriend and Eriol along on our dress trip?"

I stood stiff straight at her proposal. "Wha- Are you nuts? No way. Nuh-uh. I am not agreeing to this."

Li and I locked eyes for a minute, me using my infamous death glare and him becoming more and more scared by the minute; his eyes the color of rich toffee.

"So... what time should we meet and where?"

I finally noticed the scheming glint in his eye and realized that Li was unfazed. I groaned. Oh, he's good. Very good. This is the first time my death glare hadn't worked on anyone. But then again, this is the first time I've used it on someone other than Touya...

"Meet after lunch... So at 1 o'clock in Shibuya?"

He shrugged, bangs flopping handsomely across his forehead. I also remembered that he was shirtless in the warming sunlight. My cheeks reverted back to their seemingly permanent color of beet red, and my hand flew up to my hair and hooked it behind my right ear. A loud buzzing noise reverberated in my head like cicadas on a warm summer day and my hands became clammy with sweat.

"Meiling won't be able to come. She bought her dress ages ago, but I'll bring Eriol along..."

Missing the secretive undertone to his last statement- missing everything he said, actually- I painted on a false smile and stripped off my sweatshirt.

Li was taken aback while Tomoyo gave a low whistle at the thick-strapped tank top I had underneath.

"Sakura, I never took you for a girl who wore tank tops." She commented humorously. "How risqué! What will it be next? Not wearing knee-high socks with your classy running shoes?"

I rolled my eyes at Tomoyo's dramatics and hurled my sweater at Li. "Stop objectifying yourself like a male... scarlet woman... and cover yourself up."

The corners of his lips lazily turned upwards into what I now dub as the 'killer smile.'

And I don't mean that in the good way.

"You were..." He rubbed his drying sweat all over my sweater, much to my disgust. "Objectifying me? I've never felt so flattered in my life."

I glowed cherry red and switched topics at the speed of 299,792,458 meters per second.

"You know, I totally forgot to mention that I haven't finished unpacking all of my normal clothes. I only have my school uniform and this outfit at the moment!" I said with false disappointment.

Technically I wasn't lying... I mean, the rest of my clothes were in the washing machine. I forgot- more like was too lazy- to take them out this morning.

There was a pause as the two earthlings registered what I just said. Li recovered faster than Tomoyo, shooting me another crooked eyebrow expression. Thankfully, he said nothing about my smooth topic transition.

"That's fine, I've been working on a spring dress for you anyways." Tomoyo supplied unhelpfully. She was still smiling, and when Li turned away to pull on my sweatshirt. She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively at me.

Gross. And really unnecessary.

Li turned back towards us and I snorted at the sight of Li's muscular figure in my petite, pink sweater, while Tomoyo somehow managed to whip out a camera and snap a photo of him.

"Do you want me to strip again, Kinomoto?"

I soberly shut up at this. Continuing on with our conversation, I asked, "did I also forget to say that I have no money on me?"

Again, I was only planning on going for a run so I only brought my keys...

"That's fine. You can pay me back later." Tomoyo had a scary sparkle in her amethyst eyes.

Screwballs!

I stuck out my bottom jaw like an ape and said, grabbing at straws, "I'm allergic to oxytocin. I get the works. You know- rashes, hyperventilation, closing up of throat, and all that hooplah."

Tomoyo gave me a blank look. "What is oxytocin?"

It was Li's turn to snort. "It's the love hormone. I would tell you 'good try,' Kinomoto, but you're really bad at making excuses."

Out of ammo- I mean, excuses, I conceded defeat. "So..."

* * *

><p>"So... When were you going to tell me that you were a billionaire?"<p>

After our illuminating conversation with Li, Tomoyo kidnapped me into her limousine and brought me to her house.

Nay, her mansion.

I gaped at the luxurious rose garden that splayed out in front of us with a running water fountain in the center. I gawked at the royal blue manor that towered over me with its balconies, iron-wrought railings, and numerous butlers and maids. I gawped at the interior of creams, mahoganies, corals, and taupe. I hopped like a bunny on the plush carpet. I squealed all the way up the vintage elevator. And I died at the sight of Tomoyo's lavish wing; complete with a parlor room, a home theatre, a kitchen, a flower garden on the patio outside, and a closet the size of my bedroom.

And then Tomoyo ushered me into her bathroom.

There, displayed like a torture machine, was a hellish collection of makeup on a vanity dresser, and other unnamable objects that would've put the iron maiden to shame.

I knelt down on my knees and beseeched Tomoyo to not give in to the dark side.

She merely smiled a sweet smile and shoved me into the shower as she was singing under her breath _Honor To Us All_ from Mulan.

"I'm not a bride. And I'm not Chinese. Just sayin'."

Tomoyo sang at a louder volume.

"And it shouldn't be the Huns. It should be the Mongols. Fo' yo inf-oh-mation."

It only drove Tomoyo to sing louder, her voice pleasantly swimming through the fog of my shower. In spite of my earlier aggravation, I started smiling to myself.

Waiting until she ended the song, I piped up. "Hey, Tomoyo?"

"Mhmm?"

"Have you thought about joining the choir?"

She was eerily quiet for a while. With concern lining my face, I pushed the shower curtains aside and poked my head out.

"Tomo? You alright?" My eyes sought out for her rippling dark purple hair but found nothing. "Yo-yo? Did you ditch me in this place? Because I will gladly be the substitute for you."

One beat later and she materialized in the doorway of the bathroom, a soft white dress in hand. "Sorry, I was getting your dress. What were you saying?"

Even from a mile away, I could tell that Tomoyo was lying to me. Nevertheless, I shook it off and decided to ask her about it later.

Which, after half an hour, I regretted doing.

"For the love of gadolinium with an oxygen in the middle! I swear, if you try to get that fluoride-ing stick near me one more time, I will get a potassium-nickel-iron weapon and cut it up into sashimi."

Tomoyo blew her bangs out of her face in frustration. "Sakura, what the hell are you saying? And stay. Still." She applied two more coats of mascara to my stubby lashes and leaned back to observe her work.

"Well I've always considered myself to be quite the chemistry aficionado." I chuckled to myself at my brilliance.

I could practically feel Tomoyo rolling her eyes at the back of my head. It is a pity she forbade me from facing the mirror. Something about wanting my new look to be a surprise and blahblahblah...

"Hey, I will dismiss what you just did- 'cause I know you just rolled your eyes at me- and I'll grace you with an explanation of what I just said." I straightened up importantly. "Gadolinium is Gd, and by placing O- for oxygen- in the middle, you get 'God.' And fluoride-ing is my clever way of saying 'effing.' Geddit? Fluoride-ing? F-ing? Effing? As for potassium, nickel, and iron... Well I would think it to be self-explanatory by now for it spells knife."

During my babblings, Tomoyo had actually stopped with her examination and listened. I was touched since no one had ever bothered to pay attention to my chemistry jokes. Not even- I shook my head. Nope, not going there.

Back at the ranch, the mauve-eyed girl was hooting with laughter and slapping her knee like an old man. I swelled with pride, feeling a rush of gratitude towards my friend.

Would it be too creepy to tell her that I love her and that we should be biffles?

Probably.

"So can I see myself now?" I whined, eager to see what thirty minutes, and counting, could do to an average gal like me.

She swiveled the chair around with a flourish and I was astounded. No, amazed. Staggered? Either way, I knew, no doubt, that Tomoyo had the hands of Jesus, l'Hopital, and Chopin combined.

The mirror reflected back a slender girl with radiant emerald green eyes and petite lips. Her wavy auburn hair pooled around the shoulders of a long sleeved white dress that looked like a blouse on top and ended above the knees. An inch long ribbon of cherry blossom pink wrapped around the smallest part of her waist, giving the illusion of long legs and curves, which weren't originally there.

I caught Tomoyo's gaze in the mirror before turning fully towards her. I wrapped her into a hug, to which she returned, and uttered a small "thank you."

I've never had a friend who thought of me as significant enough to make a dress for. Much less a dress that suited my tastes to a T.

"And, for the girl who would probably kill herself in heels..." Tomoyo presented a pair of sensible pale pink ballet flats from behind her back.

Needless to say, I glomped the heck out of my fairy godmother.

* * *

><p>We were standing at the base of some random, apparently famous, shopping mall in Shibuya at 1:10 with no Li in sight. Or Eriol, who I completely forgot about until now.<p>

"Tomo-yo-yo?" I rapped, garnering a "hmm?" from said girl.

"Do you know who Eriol is?"

She gave me a strange look. "What do you mean? Isn't he in your chem class?"

My eyes glazed over as I tried to remember an Eriol from my class. Tomoyo seemed to have noticed my pathetic attempt at trying to remember who he was, because she magically conjured up her video camera before I could say "wholakazam."

"We also saw him today at soccer practice. Hold on a sec."

My heart dropped into the pit of my stomach. She can't mean...

"Hey."

I looked up to see Li and nearly snapped my neck off looking for Mr. Hot Pot. I sighed out of relief when I spied no mop of dark blue hair.

"Good afternoon, ladies."

My mouth dried at the sight of his holiness. My heart skipped a beat when I took in his casual outfit of slacks and button down shirt. I practically squealed with glee when I realized that we were matching. Kind of.

Without my noticing, Li was gauging my reaction with a smirk on his face while Eriol and Tomoyo exchanged friendly greetings.

"So... Hiragizawa, Kinomoto. Kinomoto, Hiragizawa." Li introduced casually. He stuffed his hands into the pockets of his distressed jeans.

Turning on the 'ole Kinomoto charm, I stuck my hand out and smiled daintily, "just Sakura. It's nice to finally meet you formally, Hiragizawa."

"Likewise. And you can call me Eriol, only to be fair of course." He returned my smile with a dimpled one of his own.

Can Mr. Hot Pot get any more perfect?

As I was imagining making hand babies with him, an uncomfortable cough form Li broke the silence. "Where do you guys want to go first?"

Tomoyo's eyes became maniacal after that, and she promptly dragged us into the nearest dress store. My eyes bugged out at the price tags. Pulling her to the side, I hissed to her "are you crazy? These dresses are ridiculously expensive. They're as expensive as.. I don't know... a really good calculus textbook!"

But the nut waved away my worries as if they were annoying flies.

"I'm paying, so what's the fuss about?"

I nearly strangled her.

"You are not paying five hundred plus dollar on me for a stupid dress. The day that happens will be the day Li and I become friends."

Tomoyo smiled another one of her knowing grins but relented. "Fine, fine, we'll go somewhere else then."

I heaved a relieved sigh and wiped off imaginary sweat from my forehead, which was followed by Tomoyo whisking us away to at least twenty different shops. In short, this is what happened:

Tomoyo found no dresses that suited her tastes, even though she looked spectacu-acu-lar in everything. Li was being his usual silent, brooding self the whole time. Handsomely handsome Eriol smiled at me whenever our gazes met, complimented me on every single dress Tomoyo forced me to put on, and held the doors open for us like a true gentleman. And Sakura was still dress-less, thanks to Tomoyo and her pickiness.

Oh and she had the same amount of information about Mr. Hot Pot as when the day started.

It was 6:30 by the time we came to the last, unexplored shop. I was dragging my feet by then, too tired and too hungry to complain or whine. But Tomoyo kept trucking on, flashing by the countless racks of dresses at godspeed as I stumbled along with a mounting pile of cloth.

"Halt." She commanded.

I obeyed.

"Eureka!"

My groggy mind couldn't comprehend what she meant. "Come again?"

"I found the perfect dress for you."

I dropped everything I was holding.

"Are you cereal?"

Tomoyo reverently unhooked the hanger and uncovered a thick-strapped, sage green dress that had ruffles cascading down the front. While it did have a v-neck, I didn't mind a bit.

"It's perfect. Let's take it." I announced. "Now, quickly, look for your dress before I turn into a vampire and eat everyone around me."

She scoffed. "They don't eat. They drink."

I shrugged. "Whatevs. Same diffs. Eat, drink, it's all the same to me. Now find a dress, woman! Come on, chop chop!"

She shook her head at my giddy antics and proceeded with her search. It was a mere fifteen minutes and forty three seconds until a victorious 'ah ha!' made me salivate in the mouth at the thought of food.

After Tomoyo made her purchases, Li and I sprinted off, racing each other to the nearest restaurant.

"Think you can beat me, punk?" I challenged, narrowly avoiding a pedestrian.

"I don't think. I know." He countered, not even spilling a drop of sweat.

I rolled my eyes towards the darkening sky. "Please, that's the oldest, lamest comeback in the book."

"At least I won." Li cockily said, reaching the restaurant a hair breadth before me.

"Balls!" I swore wrinkling my nose in his direction.

He playfully mussed up my hair and swiftly dodged my half-hearted hook. Li stared at me with a thoughtful expression afterwards, but I ignored him. Reverting my attentions to Tomoyo and her magical wallet of endless money, I ordered a plate of caprese salad, ravioli, calamari, a bowl of Italian wedding soup, and a piece of tiramisu.

Eriol and Tomoyo gazed at me with respect as I gobbled down my food. I know, I know, how very unlady-like of me! But you would've done the same if you were in my position. Honestly, I was close to dieing from starvation.

The three slowpokes finished after my record time of five minutes, taking their time with their food. It was silent for a bit but the robotic ring tone of my cellular device slashed through it.

"Excuse me, my uterus is singing." I said absentmindedly, getting up from the table without a glimpse of Eriol's curious face or Tomoyo's and Li's varying amused looks.

"Hallo?" I answered, closing the bathroom door behind me.

"Sakura? It's Meiling."

I cocked my head to the side. "I know, Kaho programmed your number into my phone. What's up? Because we just finished dinner and I'm going to be home in a jiffy."

There was silence on the other end, save for the crackling of the background noise.

"Hello? Meiling, you still there?"

Seriously, what's up with people and becoming quiet today.

"Is Syaoran with you?"

I was taken aback by her question. "What do you mean? Didn't he tell you-"

Oh.

Her silence was enough to answer my unfinished question.

"Alright, well come home soon! Kero misses you." Meiling quickly amended, trying to hide her emotions under a layer of cheer.

But I was the queen of hiding emotions, and I could clearly tell that she was hurt and confused. Knowing Meiling, though, she would never appreciate my butting in to her business.

So I resolved the conversation with a, "I'll be home in two shakes of a pepper grinder."

Thus, I took the train and ran all the way back home as if I was being chased by Dementors, shutting the door behind me with a thump. Even though I was heartbroken to leave Tomoyo and Mr. Hot Pot- not so much Li- I felt that coming home right away was the best solution to cure Meiling's anxiety. A soft furry thing wound itself around my legs; I looked down to see Kero rubbing his chubby face against my ankle.

"Welcome back."

I screamed a loud, "d'oh!" before my knees gave out and I landed on the floor. Gracefully, might I add.

He walked over, as calm as a snake about to strike, patting me on the knee.

"Holy crap, Dementor! I mean- how did you get here before me, Li?"

Li shrugged while eyeing Kero distrustfully. "Shortcut."

"Is-" I lowered my voice. "Is Meiling... okay?"

Li shrugged and crammed his hands into his pockets. "None of your business."

For some reason, his reply really irked me.

What a lovely word. Irk. It has such a wonderful... But I digress.

Shoving my index finger towards the spawn of the devil, I said "Kero, I choose you! Scratch attack!"

But the lazy cat sat down on his fat rear and licked his paw slowly.

Li crooked an eyebrow at me. "Pokemon? Really?"

"Hey, I like that show!" I said defensively, subtly scooching back to make as much room as possible between him and me. I held my shopping bag close to me like a security blanket.

Not that being in close proximity with Li made my palms sweat or anything.

No, no, no... It was his... deodorant that was suffocating me. Yeah, man. His deodorant reeks of soap and autumn. I mean, whoever made that deodorant should be fired! What an awful scent. For realsies.

"You hate my deodorant that much?"

Li's question broke me out of my reverie. I chuckled nervously. "I hope you can read minds, 'cause otherwise that means I just-"

"Thought out loud? Yeah, you just did, Sweetheart."

"Screw gun." I thumped the back of my head against the door to avoid meeting his coffee brown eyes.

"So." He said, settling himself next to me and leaning his back against the door. His face, however, never turned away from me once. But I could imagine every single detail in my head, right down to the faint cleft in his chin.

Likewise, I kept my face towards his, but my eyes focused on a spot over his shoulder. "You've been saying that a lot today. It's very irksome."

Li ignored me and continued. "Why have you been avoiding me? Because you don't want to tell me why you hate being a cheerleader?"

I tugged at a random piece of hair that came undone from my ponytail. "Why are you always asking questions?"

He smirked. "Stealing my lines, now, are we." He opened his mouth to say more but was cut off by a dainty cough.

"Good evening you two. It's a little too late to be flirting, don't you think?"

Simultaneously, we looked up to see Kaho with an amused expression on her face.

Thank the lord for pregnant women and good timing.

"We weren't flirting." I retorted quickly. "That's almost as absurd as the area of a circle being pi times radius _cubed_ instead of _squared._" I chortled under my breath. "How preposterous would that be. Cubed. Hah!"

Kaho and Li gave me similar 'whoa, crazy lady' looks.

"Whatever. I'm going to go to bed."

"Could you also feed Kero, please. He refuses to accept anything we give him."

I brightened up and picked up the purring munchkin. "I'd love to do that, Kaho."

I'd also love to get away from Li...

Which, apparently, is impossible.

"When are you going to answer my questions, Kinomoto?"

"You know, you're never going to get them out of me. I'm as tight as Pandora's box, my friend."

"But Pandora's box was opened."

"Then I'm like Solitaire. You're never going to win, my friend." I scratched Kero in his sensitive spot. He made a deep content sound.

"But I win at Solitaire every time."

I threw my hands up in the air. "You know what, Buddy? You're unbelievable. Like really, really, really, really unbelievable."

"If I had a nickel for every woman who's said that to me, I wouldn't be a working man." He smirked devilishly.

"Ugh. Just unbelievable. Words can't even describe how... how..."

"Incredibly attracted you are to me?" Li suggested sarcastically.

I rose my eyes up to match his and we stared each other down for what seemed like forever.

"If I tell you, will you stop bothering me?"

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Jesus mother of holy christ, it is currently 1:54 AM on Monday. MONDAY. Look at what I do for you guys.

I will edit this later today. Damn, I'm screwed for school.

Enjoy! I'll do my hardest to get the next chapter up by the end of this month.

A huge big heartfelt thanks to all my reviewers, and...

**Reviews are as great as having a friend who'll sew a dress for you. Believe me.**


	8. Truth

It was silent, save for the ticking of the clock and Kero's eating noises.

Li broke the silence and uttered a single, "yes."

I got up and went into the kitchen in response. My thoughts churned and tripped and whizzed around in my head as I seriously weighed the pros and cons of telling Li the truth.

The truth that no one but two people knew.

On one hand, Li hasn't done anything to betray our.. dare I say it... friendship. He wasn't interested in getting in my pants, despite his soccer captain status, and he understood my chemistry jokes. But on the other hand, I know nothing about Li, and there's always time for him to betray me.

Taking out a cup, I made my decision. "Sorry, but you're not going to find out. Ever. No one will."

When I turned around from retrieving a tea bag, I found myself trapped against the counter with Li's arms on either side of me. It took a lot of will power to not knee him in the balls and run.

I smiled sweetly. "Back off."

His unruly bangs shadowed his eyes, making them indecipherable to me. A shiver of fear went through me at this as I waited for his next move.

"Why are you so interested?" I whispered, sounding more broken than intended.

He pressed in impossibly closer. A fog of autumnal scents and clean soap smothered my senses. "I don't know."

"Syaoran?"

We both froze at the sound of Meiling's voice. Li shifted his body, covering me from my cousin's eyesight. Our eyes met and he mouthed out, 'don't move.' I nodded infinitesimally.

"Sorry, I was just getting a drink of water." Li said smoothly, still not moving an inch from his spot.

A blush crept up my neck when I finally realized how compromising our stances were. With much difficulty, I fought the urge to laugh at the ridiculousness of it all.

"Have you seen Sakura?"

I buried my head into Li's firm chest unconsciously, silently dieing from my insane bout of laughter.

A tint of humor colored his voice. "Yeah, I saw her. Maybe she went to the bathroom?"

Meiling hummed. I could just imagine her tapping her foot on the ground with her arms crossed in front of her. Much to our relief, she left after that. Not long after, I fell apart, using Li's strong arms as a crutch. He looked down at me with an amused expression, but all too soon I fell silent and we were left looking at each other like before.

But... is it just me or is Li's face coming closer?

I was right. His face was slowly inching towards mine. I could practically feel his breath fluttering against my stiff lips. Alarm bells went off in my head while I made a snap decision and blurted out my thoughts. Well, part of them. And heavily edited.

"I hate being a cheerleader because... because of all the drama and baggage that comes with it. And because I was made fun of. At my old school, I tried out for the cheerleading team. I got in, but the captain made me a back up. When I asked her why I wasn't on the team, she told me it was because I was a freshman. Which was absolute bowtruckle, because another freshman made it on. At the time, I was prideful of my cheerleading skills. I thought I was the queen of the world. And then one day I heard the captain complaining about how awful I was." I tried to shrug nonchalantly, but it came off as bitter instead. "That really drove home how arrogant and presumptuous I was. Of course, after the rest of the team and the rest of the school got a hold of that tasty tidbit about yours truly, it was like a bloodbath. Wherever I went, there was nasty whispering and bullying, but I made through it because..." My emerald eyes turned blank.

I turned my head away from Li and whispered dully, "I think you should go now, Li."

He stayed in our almost embrace a little longer, then stepped back. His eyes were still indecipherable, but that was better than pity.

I don't need pity. And I certainly didn't want a shoulder to cry on.

"I have four sisters."

I remained still by the counter.

"And a butler who's like a father to me. A real father who died in the army." He stuffed his hands into his pockets. "I have a mother who lives in China right now and is overseeing my father's enterprise, and she hopes that one day I'll take over the family business."

Life was leaking back into my eyes.

"Only I don't want to. I don't want to be a rigid businessman. I want to be a karate instructor. More specifically, I want to be a karate instructor for kids with disabilities. I want to travel the world doing philanthropic work without getting money or fame or recognition in return. I want to help make the world a better place for the people who need it. And... and I like the color green."

Something wet rolled down my cheek as I gave him a watery smile. "What a lame ending. It was all beautiful until that last bit."

"Meiling says I'm not allowed to talk to you."

"Then don't."

Li gazed at me, and there was a strong emotion in them that almost made me choke in fear. He opened his mouth to say something, but I cut him short out of panic.

"You should leave."

It was Li's turn to look bitter. "Pretend this never happened?"

"Pretend what never happened?" I murmured.

His scent still surrounded me like a warm cocoon when he left.

* * *

><p>Everyone at school the next week was abuzz with excitement.<p>

"We're going to be attending the same dance place as Kyoto High School! I hear they have really handsome boys."

My blood chilled at my classmate's words.

"And I hear the girls are pretty good lookin', too."

"The dance venue is supposed to be at the aquarium, yeah? It can get pretty dark in there, if you catch my drift."

"Yeah, high five it out, bro!"

I fidgeted in my seat. My blood pumped loudly in my ears and I was amazed that no one could hear it.

"Sakura?"

My attention reverted back to Naoko, who was recounting some interesting story she read over the weekend.

"Sorry, didn't get enough sleep last night." Which was true. After The Talk- and no, I do not mean the one about the birds and the bees- I had a hard time falling asleep.

"Are you going to the Homecoming Dance tomorrow?" She asked, pushing her glasses up. "Kyoto High was your old school, wasn't it?"

I smiled uneasily. "Yeah... Yeah it was. And I picked out my dress already, so I guess I'll go. Unless-"

Unless I got into a car accident or something. The only thing that would get Tomoyo off my case would be a car accident. Yes, I must somehow arrange a minor car accident to happen...

"Do you have a date?"

And suddenly the room became deadly silent.

I chuckled apprehensively, fretfully tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. "Er..."

The bell rung for the next class, thankfully. I sent a heartfelt thank you to the ceiling. That was a close one.

Lunch came around two hours later, and so did Tomoyo. The muttering started up again in the room as the graceful girl joined Naoko and me.

"Naoko, meet my new friend, Tomoyo. Tomoyo, Naoko."

They traded friendly greetings while I sank into another one of my brooding silences. It was no coincidence that Kyoto and Tomoeda happened to have their dances at the same location and the same time. I knew without a doubt in my mind who would've pulled the strings to make this happen.

And there was nothing that could make me attend the dance.

I tuned into Tomoyo's and Naoko's friendly conversation, and wasn't caught off guard when Tomoyo asked to speak to me in private.

We walked outside of the building and stopped at the fence by the soccer field. I looked at her questioningly.

"Are you going to kill me?"

Normally, the girl would've rolled her eyes at my dramatics. She looked exhausted instead.

"Tomoyo, you can tell me anything." I reached out and tentatively touched her hand. "What's wrong?"

The nervous girl took a deep, soothing breath. "You asked before why I wasn't in the choir."

I sucked in a breath, sensing a big confession coming along. If I didn't know any better, I would've said that it was confession day. Perhaps there were people controlling us and were pushing the confession button like the Staples button...

"In elementary school, I was the star of the choir. I loved singing on the stage, but there was a problem. I had a lisp. And I was teased as a result; I was teased so much that it came to the point where I stopped speaking completely and sang only in the private confines of my room. I got better as a result but it hasn't been the same."

Ah, so that's what it was. Her voice sounded off to me because she was concealing her lisp from me.

I whistled lowly. "You've done a pretty GD job at hiding the lisp, girly. You should start a YouTube channel." My eyes widened. "You should start a YouTube channel."

"Come again?"

"You can do it! I mean, look at all the singers on YouTube who've became insanely famous." I started stumbling over my words, getting increasingly excited at my idea. "Tomoyo, I believe in you. Your voice is beautiful; don't let anyone tell you otherwise. And your lisp? I think it's charming. It gives your voice character."

She smiled tentatively. "I don't know... I don't have the confidence."

In my best old wizard voice, I repeated "you can do it, Chosen One."

"Well.. I'll try it out. But only if you accompany me."

I guffawed raucously and slapped a hand to my thigh. "Tomoyo, that's nearly as funny as the hydrogen peroxide joke I read online the other day! Sakura... singing with you on YouTube. Good one!"

"Then your idea is moot and I will forever hate myself for not being courageous enough to face my fears."

I sobered up immediately. "You're serious?"

"Dead."

I hooked my hair behind an ear. "Listen, I can't sing. And you'll just be video recorded... We can even edit that shiz if you don't like it! Trust me, you don't want me singing with you."

Tomoyo sighed resignedly before giving me her puppy dog look.

Dang. That face deserved an Academy Award.

I relented. "How about a compromise? I sing the back up vocals and play the guitar _and_ I don't show my face on camera."

Tomoyo started to retaliate but I held a hand out.

"Deal or no deal?"

She rolled her eyes, looking like the girl I knew, and we shook on our deal.

Lunch finished without another hitch. Chemistry and Calculus rolled around, and I've never dreaded the class more. Yamazaki didn't question why I was dragging my feet or sighing like a fiend, which was nice of him.

We entered the room, on time for once, and as usual I sat in my seat while ignoring Li.

I didn't want to get dragged into his and Meiling's beeswax.

Li ignored me, too. Which was surprising because I was sure he was going to bother me about last night.

So the boy does have a heart.

I shoved the feelings of hurt away from me. Wait-

Why did I feel hurt?

Accidentally pushing my number two pencil too hard into my paper, I broke the tip and got up to sharpen it.

Today was not shaping up to be an excellent day.

I took my time using the cruddy pencil sharpener, examining the point to make sure it was perfect. When I was satisfied, I walked back to my desk and broke the very tip of it off.

Never liked pointy things. Or sharp things. They made me nervous.

"I'll make sure to not bring a pair of scissors then."

Squeaking in surprise, I whirled around and pressed my hand to my mouth.

"Gadolinium with an oxygen in the middle. Did I just-"

He nodded mock-gravely. I sighed.

"So why are you scared of-"

"Don't you dare ask another question." I frowned at him. "I thought we weren't supposed to talk to one another."

"Since when did I tell you that?" Li challenged harshly.

Oh, right. We're pretending that our talk never happened.

I whipped my head back towards the front. Whatever. I don't deal with PMS-y guys.

Luckily cheer practice was cancelled for the day, so I decided to go to work early. Sneaking in through the back door, I quickly tucked my hair up in a bun and donned on my blond wig. I, then, changed into my work uniform- a pair of black pants and a black shirt- and blinked on blue colored contacts. I made a once over of my perfect disguise in the mirror and nodded satisfactorily. Then, I made my way to the front of the store and gently bumped my hip against Kagami.

"Guess who doesn't have practice today?"

Kagami squealed and lifted me up into a bear hug. "Hey there, cutie patootie!"

"My wig." I choked out from her embrace. "I mean hair."

Like the embrace I almost had last night...

"I'm sorry. I just get so excited when I see your freshy face."

I looked deeply into her eyes and saw that they were dilated. "Did you have that power drink again?"

She nodded extra enthusiastically. "I sure did."

Groaning, I led her to the back and handed her a bottle of water. "Of course you would."

The bell rang from the front of the store. Kagami was midway out of her seat but I beat her to the punch.

"No, no, no, I got it. You just... stay here and... keep calm."

Kagami's voice had a sing-song tone to it as she called after my retreating back "Keep calm and carry on, keep calm, carry on, keep..."

I shook my head at her childishness and emerged from the back. "Hello, how may I help-" My words died in my throat as I beheld a dark brown haired beauty.

The dam exploded in my head; I was incapable of thinking straight. But my body instinctively acted on its own, and I held onto the one thought that my disguise was impeccable. There was no way she could recognize me.

My heels felt like they were being sliced through.

"Hello, how may I help you?" I asked robotically, putting on the perfect smile.

She flashed her veneers at me. I only saw shiny fangs.

"Which color do you think looks better on me?" She held up a dark green bra in her right hand and a deep plum in the other. Her dark fuchsia eyes glinted like snake scales.

"The plum." I whipped out, not giving it much thought.

"No, the green looks better, Nakuru."

My limbs quivered at his voice, and I knew then that I was about to have a seizure. A strapping young man with platinum, almost white, hair and steely gray eyes sauntered up to the attractive girl. He naturally hooked his arm around her shoulders, as she nuzzled her face into his chest.

But my eyes stayed glued on the man- pupils dilating, adrenaline pumping through my lithe body, heart pounding, my body sweating. Now, the only thought I had was:

Run.

"Excuse me but can you please ring me up?"

I abruptly spun around and sprinted towards the nearest exit, only to ram into Li. With one look at my panicked face, dread coloring in the lines and terror filling the space between, he took control and speedily escorted me out. By then, I was having visions of the past and was hyperventilating. My legs gave out at one point, but I distantly felt my body being swept up and carried.

Oh, God. They're here. They're here in the city that I thought was protected from them. It was like the time I found out my mother wasn't cured of her cancer. Or the time my father nearly committed suicide. Or the time I thought I was never going to walk again.

The arms disappeared and I was mercifully dragged out of my mind by Li's voice.

"Sakura. Sakura, snap out of it."

I promptly turned my head away from him and puked my lunch out. Instead of exclaiming from disgust, Li rubbed my back soothingly and pulled my hair out of the way. When I was finished, he handed me a bottle of water.

I finally took in my surroundings, numbly aware that we were deep in the forest behind the high school. A small creek swept through the middle of the clearing we were in. I breathed in the forest deeply, finding it strangely soothing and familiar.

And then something clicked in my mind.

"You come here often, don't you? This place smells like you. Or you smell like this place." I peered down and saw that we were sitting on an old fallen tree.

I could practically feel his stare digging into me, like how the phantom knife was digging into my heels.

"So are you going to ask me, or what?" I carefully kept my eyes pointed on the moss that covered the tree.

"What do you want me to ask you, Sakura?"

"Why I acted like that in the store. Why I suddenly moved into a small town in the middle of nowhere. Why I always run."

Without consciously doing so, my hand was gradually inching towards his large, callused one.

"Just give me the truth. The _whole_ truth. None of that half-truth bullshit you fed me last week."

I laughed harshly. Heartlessly. Coldly. His gaze darkened at my sullenness.

"You really want to know the whole truth? Fine. Basically, one year ago, I was a naive fool. One year ago, I tended to develop crushes on boys who were taken, and unintentionally stole them away from their girlfriends. One year ago, I had a friend who was haughty and was just as pretentious as you are, but she was my most trustworthy friend. _Was_, that is." My eyes had a vulnerable look to them as the memories broke through the dam I so carefully constructed. "She and I competed in everything. If one of us joined a club or a sport, the other would soon follow; that was our relationship and we both became extremely popular because of it. Then high school rolled around and _everything_ shattered to infinitesimal pieces.

"You see, there was this guy- golden boy of the school, soccer captain, student council president... All the girls loved Tsukishiro Yue, except for me. Of course, I flirted with him but it was harmless. Then something happened that I didn't account for: Nakuru."

Li continued to look at my intently, his amber eyes devoid of emotion. And I was grateful for that. I needed someone to listen to me without pity or disgust coloring their eyes.

"By the time I realized she liked him too, they were already going out. You should've seen how shocked I was when I saw a tattoo of her name on his arm." Another shrill laugh. "And I was angry. Boy, was I. I thought I was her best friend, yet I had to find out about their relationship from a _tattoo_? I don't think so. Well, one thing led to another, and then I found myself starting to like Yue. Without even knowing it, I would always walk by his locker with my blouse showing a little too much skin; or I would always touch his shoulder or chest whenever we spoke; or I would always give him a seductive smile whenever I passed by Yue... and the sad thing? It worked.

"Because one day, I came to school to find out that Nakuru and Yue had broken up. You would've been disgusted to see how overjoyed I was to hear it. I immediately set off to find Yue, but we coincidentally bumped into one another. It was like the fates brought us together, I remember thinking." I laughed brokenly at that.

"Jesus was I clueless. I was the poster girl for 'ignorance is bliss.' Still am, actually. Anyway, I should've known that something was up the moment they separated, because they were as devoted to each other as a dog to its owner. But I was too satisfied. Too God damned smug to see the real picture, and Yue and I ended up becoming a couple. A dream come true, at the time.

"And before you say anything-" I interrupted, seeing Li open his mouth. "No, he did not try anything on me. He didn't pressure me into having sex. In fact, he was a total gentleman... always helping me out of my seat, giving me flowers everyday, walking me home whenever he was free, and he always gave me a peck on the cheek at the end of the day. No matter where he was, I could always count on that one tiny thing." I took a deep breath, mentally preparing myself for the nightmare I was about to reveal for the first time. I struggled a bit with my words, wondering how I was supposed to break this next part to Li.

"So, of course, it was no surprise when I received a text message from Yue... asking me to go to the soccer field for my daily kiss. It was an ordinary day, after all, and Nakuru hadn't shown any signs of caring that I was together with her ex... you can imagine my surprise when I arrived at the field and was suddenly attacked from behind by... Nakuru."

Li became tense and reached out to hold my hand. I didn't notice that it was trembling.

"Everything happened so fast... yet whenever I look back upon that moment, everything seems to be so slow. I remember Nakuru pinning me to the ground and screaming, 'do it now! Do it now while she's down!'." And feeling it... a sharp sting in my right ankle and a cold trickle of something. I remember crying out in vain before Nakuru sharply covered my mouth with her hand... I took that moment to flip her over, which was easy since I grew up with an older brother. Then I saw him. Yue... kneeling over my feet with a bloody paper cutter in hand. He was aiming for my other foot before I instinctively kicked out and got him square in the nose... I followed that up quickly, my animal instincts coming alive, and got up to limp away. I was about a meter away before I felt another slash... and then I collapsed on the ground. Past experiences with getting sprained ankles told me enough. I knew that both of my Achilles heels were busted.

I tried to stall for time, asking, 'why are you doing this to me?'

And you know what Yue said? He said..."

Now the tears started flowing and I swiped at them furiously.

"He said, 'because I was bored and I wanted to experiment a little.'"

Absentmindedly, I rubbed the scars on my throbbing ankle at the memory, while Li growled under his breath. I took another strangely steady breath.

"So I turned to my childhood friend with beseeching eyes. This horrible situation was beyond my comprehension and I wanted to know what I did wrong. Yeah, I honestly wanted to know. How dumb was I?

'Because I'm envious of your freedom. Of your wings. Of your ability to be with me, but not at the same time. I wanted you to open your eyes and look only at me. You- you and your daydreams and your habit of wistfully looking up at the sky like you want to fly away. It drove me crazy how free-spirited you are.' She sneered, hostility lacing her voice. 'So then I got thinking. I thought, 'hm... I wonder what I could do to get Sakura to look at me? And you know what? It was Yue who came up with the answer: sports and your silly crushes.' Nakuru gave me a leer, fuchsia eyes flashing dangerously. 'After that it was just a matter of pretending to seduce the one person you hadn't targeted before, then fake-breaking up with him, and having him lead you to me so that I could take away your wings.'

I remember snorting incredulously. 'Last time I checked, my feet were feet and not wings.'

But Nakuru gave me this spine-chilling smile. Never before had she looked more crazed than that moment. Then she told me, 'you'll soon see what I mean.'

Yue appeared to be disinterested by our dialogue. Bored. There wasn't a shred of human left in him, I thought. The both of them advanced upon my prone figure as I tried to think past the haze which clouded my brain. When they were close enough, I took out Nakuru's knee.

"Did you know that it takes only three pounds to shatter your knee cap?" I asked suddenly.

Li nodded his head mutely, lips pursed.

"Well, after I took her out, I went after Yue. I was as betrayed and livid as when Nakuru got together with him. I easily snatched away his tiny weapon, despite being crippled, and made sure to give him an ugly cut above his eye.

"Yue wanted to be a celebrity when he grew up." But a remorseful frown came onto my face. "I never meant to hurt them but with the heat of the moment-" I bit my lower lip, eyebrows coming together as I thought about my disgusting actions.

I didn't deserve forgiveness or kindness from anyone. I was as bad as Yue and Nakuru.

"Then salvation came in the form of a student I'd never seen before. Yue and Nakuru took off immediately- actually Yue picked up Nakuru and fled- while I laid on the ground in my own blood. I was quickly rushed to the hospital, my father and brother called, and I had surgery done to repair my ruptured heels. When they asked me what happened, I told them that I tried executing a difficult move by myself and somehow tore both heels.

"They bought it. They knew how clumsy I was.

"So Kinomoto Sakura had to skip the rest of her first year of high school as a result, and spent the whole time attending physical and mental therapy. Actually, no, I never saw a shrink. You see, destiny works in funny ways; like making two seemingly opposite people fall deeply in love with each other...

"Or making your ex-best friend's mom your therapist.

"When I first walked into that room the day I was discharged from the hospital, I came a hair breadth's away from having a seizure. There was no way I could have talked about Nakuru to her own _mother_. But it's not what you think. I didn't want to tell Mrs. Akizuki the truth out of the kindness of my heart; I didn't tell because she was the mom who thought her daughter was made out of rainbows and butterflies, and nothing could convince her otherwise, not even if the whole thing happened in front of her in slow motion. She was the type of mom who believed what she wanted to believe.

"But therapy wouldn't have done much for me anyway. Trust me when I say this: I was not looking for revenge, nor was I emotionally scarred enough to be freakishly dependent on people. My mind was sane enough to comprehend that, so therapy was unnecessary. What I really missed though, was running. And being able to jump. And going outside by myself. Only then did I realize what Nakuru was talking about. She really did clip my wings. I was like a caged bird; it drove me nuts. Especially since I was chained to a wheelchair." I finished with an empty smile.

I felt drained. More drained than before. I was expecting to feel light and free of my burdens, but instead I was apprehensive and more sickened with myself than ever before.

What have I done?

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** So? What did you guys think? First angsty chapter I've ever made... and you found out about Sakura's secret. Was it a surprise for y'all? Please review!


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